i

EXPLORATORY STUDY OF SELF EFFICACY PERCEPTION AND LEADERSHIP

BEHAVIOUR: CASE OF MANAGER'S IN LONDON

By
Student 3

A dissertation submitted for the Masters in Business Administration

The Business School

University of Roehampton

2014

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Declaration form
This work is original
Signed______________________________ Date___________________

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Abstract
The study aimed at examining how perceptions of self efficacy influence leadership
behaviour among managers. Exploratory research was conducted and involved gathering
qualitative data using interviewees. The sample considered in the study consisted of 10
managers working in the hotel sector. The questions concerned self efficacy and leadership
behaviour. Content analysis helped to code the responses obtained using cluster method and
hence enabled the major themes arising from the responses obtained. In particular, the study
found that leadership skills and self leadership helps in the development of self efficacy
which contributes to performance when the leaders are motivated. In addition, self efficacy
was found to enhance leader emergence, and leader performance qualities. Self-efficacy
makes the business leaders to assume that task can be fulfilled successfully, and hence they
continue executing them even if success is not achieved at once. The study findings provide
practical implications to help in attaining more leadership development interventions geared
towards improving performance. Businesses which emphasize on empowerment should
employ training initiatives aimed at demonstrating skill improvement and implementation of
strategies for self-leadership. From a business point of view, this study can help the business
leaders to develop their talents, organize themselves and be effective and motivated to
perform better.

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Table of Contents
Declaration form ......................................................................................................................ii
Abstract ................................................................................................................................... iii
List of tables............................................................................................................................vii
List of figures ........................................................................................................................ viii
Acknowledgement ................................................................................................................... ix
Chapter 1: Introduction .......................................................................................................... 1
1.1

Background information and study context ......................................................1

1.3

Problem statement and study significance ........................................................4

1.4

Study context ............................................................................................................5

1.5

Research aim ............................................................................................................6

1.5.1
1.6

Research objectives .........................................................................................6

Summary ...................................................................................................................6

Chapter two: Literature review .............................................................................................. 7

2.1

Leadership behaviour ............................................................................................8

2.3

Leadership theories ................................................................................................9

2.4

Self efficacy .............................................................................................................10

2.5

Self- Efficacy theories............................................................................................12

2.5.1 Self- fulfilling model..............................................................................................12

2.5.2 Social Cognitive Theory .......................................................................................13
2.6

Self efficacy behavioural implications ...................................................................14

2.7

Self efficacy and leadership ....................................................................................15

Chapter three: Research Methodology ................................................................................ 20

3.1

Introduction .............................................................................................................20

3.2

Research design .......................................................................................................20

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3.3

Sample ......................................................................................................................21

3.4

Sampling...................................................................................................................21

3.5

Data collection .........................................................................................................23

3.6

Data analysis methods.............................................................................................24

3.7

Ethics ........................................................................................................................25

3.8

Reliability and validity ............................................................................................25

Chapter four: Findings, analysis and evaluation ................................................................ 27

4.1

Understanding of self efficacy ................................................................................27

4.2.1 Development of self efficacy .....................................................................................29

4.3 Self efficacy and work performance of leaders .........................................................31
4.5

Self efficacy and handling failure situations .........................................................35

4.6

Self efficacy and leadership development .............................................................37

Discussion............................................................................................................................38
Chapter five: Conclusion and Recommendations............................................................... 40
5.1

Conclusion - practical implications for businesses ...............................................40

5.2

Future studies and limitation .................................................................................42

5.2.1 Limitations .............................................................................................................42

5.2.2 Future studies ........................................................................................................42
References ............................................................................................................................... 44
Appendix A ............................................................................................................................. 51
Consent form to take part in the study ............................................................................51
If you wish to participate in this study, please sign and date below.................................. 52
Interview schedule .............................................................................................................53
Interview questions ........................................................................................................54
Interview transcripts .........................................................................................................56

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Coding scheme ........................................................................................................................ 96

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List of tables
Table 1 Number of years as a manager .................................................................................... 22

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List of figures
Figure 1 Social cognitive theory: triadic relationships ............................................................ 13
Figure 2 Self efficacy path influences on behaviour ............................................................... 15
Figure 3 Relationship between self efficacy and leadership behaviour ................................... 18

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Acknowledgement
I acknowledge the important role played by my supervisor to help in the development of this
dissertation

Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1

Background information and study context

Retaining and developing leadership is regarded by Anderson et al. (2008) to be a great

challenge that businesses face today. The business leaders operate today in an ever changing and
increasingly demanding work setting on both organizational and personal levels (WongMcDonald and Gorsuch 2004). Hence, for business leaders to be effective and successful in both
business and personal lives, they require the right competencies, skills and behaviours meet the
objectives of their business. Apart from the leadership behaviours, the specific styles of
leadership, constructs like self efficacy variables impact directly on related leadership style. In
essence, the styles of leadership can be either ineffective or effective and impact directly on the
leadership demonstrated within the business (Wing 2006). The business leaders who have
personal attributes like self efficacy may have a higher likelihood of taking responsibility,
practicing strategies of self leadership and participate more in making decisions in the
organization.
In the opinion of Barclay et al. (2007), leaders differ in how they seize chances to share
responsibility and leadership. In essence, the business leaders with self efficacy tend to expect
success and believe that they are capable. Consequently, such business leaders influence their
work and desire control and participate more in making the job related decisions. In the opinion
of Chan and Drasgow (2001), people who are self leaders persist in adverse situations, direct
their efforts, motivate themselves personally and consistently renew their patterns of thinking.
Self-leadership can be defined as the practice where an individual intentionally influences their
feelings, behaviours and thinking in order to attain goals (Wing 2006). Self-leadership can be

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defined as the practice where an individual intentionally influences their feelings, behaviours and
thinking in order to attain goals (Wing 2006). Self- leadership is relevant to self-efficacy because
it relates to how individuals engage more in behaviours that are innovative to help their
organizations and this self leadership signifies a process of self influence which involves self
motivation and self direction. Chemers, Watson and May (2000) also noted that the individuals
using the strategies of self leadership improve on their personal effectiveness and efficiency
through natural reward, constructive thought and behaviour focused initiatives. In particular,
having behaviour focused initiative is important to facilitate management of behaviour. On the
other hand, natural reward initiative can help individuals to shape their perceptions hence
develop aspects in activities that are enjoyable while constructive thoughtful initiatives develop
positive thinking (Watson et al. 2001).
In workplace environment where the employees are allowed to act autonomously and
have greater control, the self leadership strategies are vital for attaining the necessary self
motivation and self direction to be more productive (Villanueva and Sanchez 2007).
Consequently, scholars and practitioners alike can benefit from understanding more about how
self efficacy can influence the strategies of self leadership. According to the reports by
Hendricks and Payne (2007), the main challenges that a modern manager faces include; getting
the workers to share organizational change goals, assessing how employees can do better, and
working collaboratively with employees in order to attain the organizational goals. With the
increasing need to improve continuously through rapid and dramatic change, the managers must
have a clear plan and vision for the firm that considers the various factors which can influence
the organizational success (Vecchio 2003). The business leaders who can drive continuous
improvement successfully in their firms are likely to be the ones who successfully retain and

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motivate a high performing workforce. Consequently, the self expectation of a person results in
improved productivity and performance.

1.2

Self efficacy
Over the past three decades, self-efficacy of a person has been regarded a topic of interest

in research. Formally, it refers to the belief that someone can effectively execute certain
behaviours to attain desired outcomes. The social cognitive hypothesis, establish that selfefficacy greatly influences intensity, initiation and endurance of behaviour. However, selfefficacy individuals try to do more difficult tasks, work harder to accomplish them, and are also
determined despite the several obstacles. Interestingly, behavioural characteristics have a
positive relationship with performance. For three years, the role of self-efficacy towards the
behaviour of organizations has been explored under different areas including employee
creativity, implementation of new technology and new corner adjustment. One relevant research
area, especially in the current challenging organizational climate examines the relationship
between leadership and self-efficacy in organizations.
Reuvers et al. (2008) and Slatcher and Pennebaker (2006) described self-efficacy as a
cognitive process whereby individuals evaluate their ability to do certain tasks. Southard (2006)
on the other hand defined it as the belief of individuals about their capacity to produce required
performance levels that are influenced by exercise over events affecting their lives. Beliefs in
self-efficacy influence peoples feelings, thoughts, behaviour and also helps motivate them. Selfefficacy that is high has been associated with quality outcomes in many aspects of life, such as
better performance in work and high job satisfaction. A study conducted by Wing et al (2006)
and Bass and Riggio (2005) on the relationship between work performance and self-efficacy
showed a great influence. In their study, among all the examined work-performance predictors

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which included consciousness and experience, self-efficacy showed the strongest relationship
with performance after mental ability. Despite the fact that mental ability can be difficult to
change, self-efficacy can be altered.
Accordingly, there are four major factors which determine the extent of belief in selfefficacy of an individual which include verbal persuasion, personal mastery occurrences,
vicarious mastery occurrences and, effective and physiological states (Frattaroli, 2006). Personal
accomplishments make individuals expect better future outcomes. In addition, verbal assurance
or persuasion by other individuals beyond ones capacity to achieve better outcomes strengthens
self-efficacy. Vicarious mastery occurrences which entail observing other successful individual
can also make individuals have expectations over better future outcomes (Scherbaum et al.
2006). Since effective and physiological states like a negative mood or very high arousal level
can determine perceptions of efficacy, re-interpreting or reducing such states may lead to greater
perceptions of self-efficacy.

1.3

Problem statement and study significance

The business leaders still seek advice on how to develop employees who are motivated

and willing to make changes that can make the organization succeed. Consequently, the
organizations are faced with the challenge of becoming effective at low costs and without
increasing expenses. Bandura (2000) was of the opinion that the achievement of an individual
largely depends on possessing the skills required and a firm self belief in their ability to use the
skills and knowledge, which is the basis on the social cognitive model. Individuals can learn
adaptive behaviours that can address a certain situation; however the personality type of an
individual may not change easily over time. Nevertheless, the person can develop self efficacy.

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Based on the fact that changes are vital for a modern organization to succeed, improving
the probability of success of the attempted efforts of change is a great opportunity for the
organization. To implement change successfully, there is a need for the organizational employees
to adopt new behaviours in order for the changes desired to be realized. The importance of
conducting this study from a business context was that it can help business leaders to transform
their strategies into reality by helping them understand the role of self efficacy in enhancing
leadership qualities. Motivation level and internal resource utilization and identification level
where the association between leadership and personality type has been a subject of focus by
practitioners and scholars, self efficacy deserves better exploration. Business leaders can
deliberately improve the performance by addressing various sources that help to develop self
efficacy. Additionally, there is a high demand for skilled leaders; hence a business leaders
responsibility and the role of the business leaders have changed with the organizational,
flattening hierarchy. Employees can develop self efficacy and hence the focus of this study was
to understand how perception of self efficacy influence leadership behaviour among managers in
London.
By determining the association between leadership and self efficacy, the findings of the
study provide important information for managers to support and motivate employees towards
the culture of improvement.

1.4

Study context
The influence of self-efficacy was assessed in this study in the context of how it

influences the behaviour of the business managers working in the hotel sector. The main focus
was self-efficacy importance in performance attainment, handling of difficult scenarios;
leadership experiences; leadership development and leadership efficiency were examined in the

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business context. It was expected that managers who have self efficacy would be able to pull out
their businesses from the difficult situations.

1.5

Research aim

To explore the business managers perception of how self-efficacy affects their behaviour
1.5.1 Research objectives
1. To explore what whether business managers understand the concept of self-efficacy is
2. To gain understanding of the business managers perceptions about self efficacy
development and its influence on their leadership
3. To explore whether having self efficacy enable the business managers to emerge as
effective business leaders
4. To explore whether having self efficacy enable the business managers to possess leader
performance qualities

1.6

Summary
Chapter one in this study has served as the introduction by providing information on the

study purpose, problem statement as well as details regarding the study background. Hence it
helps to comprehend what the study is about and gives the important questions to be addressed in
the next chapters. Moreover, the rationale and significance of conducting the study have been
given in detail to justify the importance of the study to the practitioners and the academicians
concerned about the subject of self efficacy and its influence on leadership behaviours.

Chapter two: Literature review

As firms move towards reducing the organizational levels in order to flatten the
organizational structure, reduce the various middle management positions and levels, the need to
have a flexible style of leadership in all the organization levels has become evident (Anderson et
al. 2008). In addition, the changes in workforce and industry over the past few decades have led
to the need for organizational managers to become more transformational leaders rather than
transactional leaders in their attitude and behaviour, so as to remain very effective in their work.
That is, the kind of leader who promotes performance, productivity and output as indicated by
Bandura (2001) that such leaders empower and encourage their employees through enabling
them to become high involvement teams and members, focused on service, quality, production
and output. Studies on leadership for the past four decades have attempted to understand the
leadership aspects that improve the performance of an organization (Salanova et al. 2002).
However, despite the numerous studies that have been conducted in the last four decades with
the aim of examining why some managers are more effective compared to others, there are still
elusive answers.
Beliefs of self-efficacy are drivers of change which determine the outcomes in every
aspect of life. A number of such studies have incorporated other components like reinforcement,
which would challenge the determination of specific components of self-efficacy. However,
other intervention studies on self-efficacy have focused only on some of the sources of selfefficacy. Scherbaum et al. (2006) and Vecchio (2003) have investigated the impact of
intervention, focusing on all self-efficacy sources so as to enhance self-efficacy as well as selfefficacy related behaviours. It was also found that intervention on self-efficacy comprising of all
sources of self-efficacy resulted in greater perfections in performance.

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Numerous studies have been done on the self-efficacy topic (Rigotti et al. 2008).
Moreover, studies focusing on teacher performance and student achievement represent the
prolific research which has been done on management field. It has been noted by Tierney and
Farmer (2004) that most studies that have concentrated on the influence of the association
between work performance (like sales, career choice, learning and job-related achievement,
naval performance, job search), and self-efficacy (Ross and Bruce 2002). Most studies that
examined organizational self-efficacy emphasized on the importance of self-efficacy. A study
conducted by Furst and Reeves (2008) investigated self-efficacy among managers as a key
motivation factor that would help managers to adopt change. However DiLiello and Houghton
(2006) and Wong-McDonald and Gorsuch (2004) performed an empirical analysis on selfefficacy of managers as a key factor in employment engagement levels, as well as an
investigation on job-related performance and self-efficacy. The studies established the
applicability of self-efficacy within the organizational learning context.

2.1

Leadership behaviour
Yun, Cox and Sims (2006) indicate that leadership involves change and how to cope with

change. Donaldson and Grant-Vallone (2002) also supports this statement by noting that
leadership is an organization of action which involves people in change leadership. Hence it can
be understood from their description of leadership that there are components that are essential
namely resource, power and motive. Further, it was stated by Edmunds, Ntoumanis and Duda
(2006) that leadership is shown in how leaders act and see their motivation and values of other
people. On their part, Villanueva and Sanchez (2007) indicated that the main task of leaders is to
develop the direction for attaining the vision of the organization and aligning their followers with

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the organizations vision. Consequently, this can be initiated through the communication of the
vision to the followers, inspiring the followers and also overcoming the potential obstacles.
It was also argued by Costello, Brunner and Hasty (2002) that firms can be more
effective with leaders and cannot achieve purposeful goals without a leader. Thus, leadership
practices in an organization like inspirational and visionary leadership, transformational
leadership and charismatic leadership has the task of transforming the attitudes and beliefs of
organizational employees to conform to the objectives and mission of the organization (Peterson
and Arnn 2005).

2.3

Leadership theories
Leadership and a leader refer to the change agents or people whose actions influence

other individuals more than how the acts of the individuals affect them (Paglis and Green 2002).
Hence leadership mainly occurs when the competencies and motivation of group members are
modified by a group member. In addition, leadership involves an individuals ability to motivate,
enable and influence others towards contributing to the success and effectiveness of their
organizations (Kane et al. 2002). The motivations and attitudes are styles of leadership and
comprise laissez faire, transformational and transactional leadership. There are a number of
leadership theories that have been developed to understand the concept of letting other people in
an organization and motivating them to be more effective and productive (Hendricks and Payne
2007). The theory of path goal is a contingency leadership model developed from elements of
consideration and initiating structure and extracts elements of expectancy motivation theory
(Barclay et al. 2007). The goal model in essence addresses the behaviour of leaders, which help
the members of a group to attain their goals and become satisfied hence provide direction and
support that goals attained are in line with the goals of the teams or the organizations. The path

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goal model has four basic styles of leadership, namely directive leadership, supportive
leadership, achievement oriented leadership and participative leadership (Furst and Reeves
2008).
In charismatic theory, attributions are made by followers about the extraordinary abilities
of the leaders when they evaluate the leadership behaviours. A number of studies on charismatic
leadership theory have concerned the assessment of non charismatic and charismatic leaders
(Dvir et al. 2002). In addition, the personal attributes of leaders who are charismatic have been
reported such as sensitivity to constraints in the workplace environment and needs of followers,
vision, risk taking ability, and possessing behaviours not in the norms. The strategies used by
charismatic leaders to influence followers normally involve a process of the four steps as noted
by Watson, Chemers and Preiser (2001). In essence, the charismatic leader supplies the followers
with the vision, commences the process, communicates the expected performance and develops
confidence in the performance expected. Consequently, the self esteem of the followers is
enhanced and their confidence in own ability increased.

2.4

Self efficacy
Self efficacy refers to the individuals belief in their ability to gather the cognitive,

motivation, resources, and the action required to meet the demands of any situation (Donaldson
et al. 2002). This implies that self efficacy involves the confidence (or conviction) of an
individual in their abilities to execute a certain task successfully in a given situation. Individuals
with self efficacy have a higher likelihood of recovering quickly when faced with frustrations
and failure in their work; hence they have persisted and employ creativity in solving a problem.
Hence such individuals believe every problem has a solution and they work hard (DiLiello and
Houghton 2006). Nevertheless, when they are not successful, it is not due to their motivation, the

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situation or their ability, rather due to the fact that they have not made an effort. People whose
self efficacy is very high persevere at work even when failure is inevitable. It was also
demonstrated by Carmeli, Meitar and Weisberg (2006) that performance is related strongly to
self efficacy. In addition, Chen, Gully and Eden (2001) believes that peoples actions, motivation
level, susceptibility to depression and stress, perseverance and thoughts are affected by self
efficacy. As regards the challenges of changes in an organization, a trait such as self efficacy has
a great impact. Implication to leaders seeking ways of developing employees who are motivated,
self efficacy in specific tasks can be enhanced through successful productivity; however leaders
can structure the effective repetitions and mastery experience in order for the employees to learn
better.
The theory of self fulfilling prophecy posits that the behaviour of an individual is
consistent with the individuals expectations and these behaviours influence outcomes in turn.
Studies by Paglis and Green (2002) also suggest that the personality type of individuals and
efficacy are predictors of their leadership effectiveness particularly in leading organizational
change efforts. Semadar, Robins and Ferris (2006) further explains that self efficacy constitutes
an individuals conviction about their capability of mobilizing the cognitive resources,
motivation and the action required to successfully conduct a certain task in a given context. The
beliefs of a person about their capabilities don't only have an effect on outcomes of actions taken,
but also individuals tend to shun situations and activities that they believe they may fail, hence
they adjust their effort levels based on expected outcomes (Tierney and Farmer 2002). It was
contended by Tierney and Farmer (2002) that the behaviour of a person is predicted better from
their beliefs rather than the actual outcome of their actions. This theory is important because of

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the implication on, where business leaders need to target their energies to develop a workforce
that can succeed at strategies required to change the organization.

2.5

Self- Efficacy theories

The current agent of change must provide a setting for organizing where intended results

can jointly be obtained through interrelated, diverse and interdependent associates of a system
(Costello et al. 2002). This is usually easier given that leading practitioners and academicians
rely much more on another hypothesis that accurately details factors related to success in
leadership. More particularly, research on psychology indicates that individual efficacy and
personal type may act as effective leadership predictors especially in efforts leading to change
(Chen et al. 2004). Hence the social cognitive theory serves as the foundation for further debate
on this subject.
2.5.1 Self- fulfilling model
Pygmalion effect mainly occurs when the high expectation level of individuals about
another person emanates a high performance level (Chen et al. 2001). When an individuals high
expectation level produces high performance, then it is considered that Galatea effect has
occurred. Task-related self-efficacy is among the major conceptual frameworks of performance
expectations. According to the theory of self-fulfilling insight, a persons behaviour is
compatible with ones expectations, and such behaviours are in turn expected to influence
outcomes (Chemers et al. 2000). The major direction of importance for conducting self-fulfilling
studies of organizations is by learning how managers enhance self-expectations of employees.
Chen, Gully and Eden (2004) and Salanova, Pero and Schaufeli (2002) identified malleability
of self-efficacy and self-expectations as a reason for further research by organizations.

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2.5.2 Social Cognitive Theory
SCT (social cognitive theory) has been employed by organizations as a framework for
clarifying a number of phenomena, including achievement, behaviour, career choice, motivation
and goal setting, academic performance, gender variations in performance, drug and substance
abstinence, decision making, job performances including motor and sport performance (Chan
and Drasgow 2001). The SCT framework explains the behaviour of an individual as a linkage
between 3 reciprocal elements which include an individuals environment, behaviour such as
previous success of unproductive performance, and social cognitions. Due to the influence of
reciprocal dimensions, employees serve as both producers and products of their behaviour,
personality and environment (Bandura 2000).

Figure 1 Social cognitive theory: triadic relationships

Source: Bandura (2000)

Study in the SCT field has advanced over the past few years to include the self-efficacy
factor. The human performance formula provided by Bandura (2001) utilizes the two variables
which are motivation and ability, and self-efficacy comes in as an additional variable. Avolio et
al. (2004) and Rigotti, Schyns and Mohr (2008) refer ability as the possession or capacity of
knowledge which enable one to perform valuable tasks within an organization.

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2.6

Self efficacy behavioural implications

It was found by Brown et al. (2002) that self-efficacy that is very high influences a

persons behaviour in various ways. Additionally, emotional responses and thought patterns are
influenced by self-efficacy. Individuals with low levels of self-efficacy may think that tasks are
more challenging than they appear, whereas individuals with high level of self-efficacy will be
persevere despite temporary setbacks such as view failures and obstacles. Self-efficacy also
affects the extent of work-related anxiety and stress experienced by a person. Self-confidence
leads to success, which eventually promotes more difficult performances (Carmeli et al. 2006).
Further, self-doubt encourages hesitation and lack of motivation for future attempts. One,
behavioural choices are influenced by self-efficacy whereby individuals tend to avoid activities
for which they are not competent in and prefer activities which they feel they can complete
successfully. However a persons perception towards self-efficacy influences the number of
attempts that will be made and the length of individuals perseverance. Moreover, the
performance and motivation accomplishments are influenced not only by self efficacy, but also
other vital social cognitive elements. The path of influence is depicted in the figure below.

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Figure 2 Self efficacy path influences on behaviour

Source: Bandura (2000)

2.7

Self efficacy and leadership

Transformational leaders seek to transform self-concepts and personal values of the

followers so that followers can widen and raise their aspirations and needs to concentrate and
attain greater levels of potential and needs. This higher value alignment level as reported by Dvir
et al. (2002) and Kark and Shamir (2002) strengthen the influence of transformational leaders on
the intrinsic motivation of employees that on other styles of leadership. Ross and Bruce (2007)
and Woodward and Hendry (2004) analyzed a model comprising of self-efficacy of followers
and goal level. Identifiers of higher self-efficacy level would respond positively to leaders who
comprehend the overall collective effort of a group. Nevertheless, organizations with such
identity would initiate a positive identity of an individual and hence lead to better social identity.
Therefore, it is easier to hypothesize that self-efficacy employees respond and work confidently

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with self-efficacy leaders, who are the transformational leaders as noted by Mesterova et al.
(2014).
On the contrary, employees with low level of self-efficacy, respond to low-level selfefficacy leaders, who are the transactional leaders. Thus self-efficacy has a great influence on the
styles of leadership. The study by Paglis and Green (2002) found that a significant relationship
exists among quality goal, performance goal, the quality of vision and self efficacy. Hence, self
efficacy and goal level are moderators of the relationship with leadership behaviour. In the
opinion of Peterson and Arnn (2005), transformational leadership is attributed to employees
psychological performance level and work. This is evident as it is reported by McNatt and Judge
(2004) that leaders who are effective are skilled and can adjust behaviour to fit in a group based
on their perceptions about what employees want in a workplace.
It has been reported by Malone (2001) that, effective leadership needs high confidence
and agency levels. Therefore, to become a successful manager, one must practice self-efficacy.
In previous studies, this assumption has indicated that there is a positive relationship between
self-efficacy and performance increase. Most importantly, self-efficacy relates to concepts
relevant to leadership. Given the complexity of leadership tasks, it is argued by Anderson et al.
(2008) and Barclay et al. (2009) that leadership, execution is associated with self-efficacy
increases. On the contrary, a study by Chan and Drasgow (2001) indicated that when evaluating
the potential of managers, self-efficacy relates to the challenging task chosen and motive of
approaching success, defined as the tendency to select tasks that manifest ones capabilities.
Due to the fact that leadership is complex, and that managers are continually confronted
with varying tasks, variables including learning orientation and performance adaptability appear
relevant to be studied on. Previous studies have indicated that these variables and self-efficacy

17
are related. For instance, a positive relationship has been established between self-efficacy and
learning orientation as well as between self-efficacy and performance adaptability. This implies
adaptation of skills and knowledge to meet the requirements of the new circumstances, and
resilience so as to maintain concentration and motivation all through the session. It therefore
means that behaviours relevant to future successful leaders and self-efficacy are related. Selfefficacy is, however, regarded by charmers, Watson and May (2000) and Hendricks and Payne
(2007) as the basis for leadership development.
In the opinion of Kane et al. (2002), efficacy is the state of psychological wellness and it
is asserted by Kark and Shamir (2002) that efficacy leads to engaging in effective leadership and
gives leaders the ability to adopt flexible views and adapt functionally across challenges and
complexities in workplaces. In addition, leaders who have self efficacy can pursue challenging
tasks by developing internal need. Hence LSE is a vital tool for determining job performance.
The important aspects that arises out of the definition by Bass and Riggio (2005) that leaders are
people who have an influence on the competence of other people and to influence followers they
possess optimal competencies.
A vital qualitative measurement which describes the competencies of a leader is the
ability of the leader to have complex social or cognitive problem solving skills and abilities
(Brown et al. 2002). Individual self motivation is an essential construct that describes leadership
competency or identity given that the ability of the leaders to have self motivation is important in
leadership identity and the ability of the leaders to influence followers (Yun et al. 2006). Another
report by Bandura (2001) indicates that leadership competencies have a direct relationship with
the ability of the leader to ensure organizational performance and performance is linked to the
ability of the leader to utilize and identify resources to meet the goals of the organization. While

18
the resources can be both external and internal, this study mainly focuses on a leaders internal
resources. In essence, internal resources can be described as the leaders skills, experience,
endurance capabilities and knowledge used in performing tasks.

Figure 3 Relationship between self efficacy and leadership behaviour

Source: Kark and Shamir (2002)

In contrast, the earlier model on how self efficacy path influences on behaviour indicated
that behavioural choices are influenced by self-efficacy whereby individuals tend to avoid
activities for which they are not competent in and prefer activities which they feel they can
complete successfully.
Therefore, the gap in extant studies that the study intended to address was whether having
self efficacy enable the business managers to emerge as effective business leaders. In addition,
the past studies have not indicated what business managers understand to have enabled them to
develop as business leaders. In this regards, this study was an exploratory study because it was
considered to be the most appropriate in getting in-depth information on whether business
managers understand the concept of self-efficacy and their perceptions about self efficacy
development in order to address the gaps in the extant studies. Exploratory study was only vital

19
because it generally involves interviews which provide rich data compared to other types of
studies.

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Chapter three: Research Methodology

3.1

Introduction
This chapter presents the methods and study approaches involved in examining how self

efficacy impacts on the leadership behaviour. The aim of this chapter was to indicate the sample
chosen, the techniques employed in arriving at the samples and the instruments employed during
the collection of the data. In addition, this chapter has also covered methods of data analysis,
type of data collected and the research design.

3.2

Research design
A research design is a procedure used to gather data, analyze data, interpret results and

disseminate the findings (Myers 2008). Research design can be qualitative, mixed method
(qualitative and quantitative) and the quantitative design. Qualitative design is a research design
that is subjective and involves a naturalistic and interpretive approach where data is normally
gathered using interviews to generate qualitative data (Rubin and Babbie 2010). Quantitative
design is objective and normally involves gathering quantitative data in the form of numbers;
hence statistical methods can be used to test hypotheses (Ary, Jacobs and Razavieh 2002). The
behaviour (competence) of business leaders can be measured using various qualitative and
quantitative methods. Self efficacy can be considered as qualitative in nature given that it arises
from the behaviours of individuals, its measurement through questionnaires may be conducted,
however, this does not provide in-depth information since quantitative data provided by
questionnaires merely describe the phenomena but does not provide comprehensive
understanding like in the case of exploratory studies. Hence, this study adopted qualitative
approach to understand the relationship existing between leadership behaviour and self efficacy.

21
Exploratory research was conducted to enhance understanding of the relationship
between self efficacy and the leadership behaviour. Hence the outcomes measured in the study
included leadership behaviour and the self efficacy among the samples. In this regard, the
exploratory study involved gathering qualitative data. Justification for qualitative research was
that it has the advantage of allowing the study to obtain richer and thicker information about how
self efficacies among managers contribute to their leadership behaviour. The interview questions
regarding the attributed studied are presented in the appendix section. The disadvantage of
qualitative research is that it is often prone to researcher bias.

3.3

Sample
The sample considered in the study consisted of managers in London and they were 10 in

number. A sample size of 10 for a qualitative interview was an appropriate number since
qualitative studies are not concerned about the numbers or representativeness of the target
population as noted by Steinberg (2008). In essence, qualitative interviews are conducted to
explain and explore phenomena in-depth to discover new constructs, themes and relationship.
However, the sample of 10 was a diverse sample given that the individual managers or the
sample units were drawn from different location and firms. Involving 10 interviewees were quite
a considerable number of the interviews to reach saturation levels. In essence, Alvesson and
Skoldberg (2010) defines saturation during interviews as the point when no new data is revealed
by further collection of data since all the questions asked have been exhausted by the initial
qualitative interviews.

3.4

Sampling
The sample identified in this study was managers drawn from businesses operating in

London. In total, the size of the sample was 10 managers who were identified based on

22
convenience sampling given that they were identified by using friends and family networks.
This sample size was considerable since the study was exploratory where interviews are
conducted. According to Barbour (2008), interviews generally consist of small sample size.
Hence the managers of businesses outside London were not sampled. In particular, the hotel
sector and the restaurants in particular were considered as the context of the study since the
sector has characteristics of providing quality service to customers since service quality depends
on various factors including taste of products and experience of services provided in the hotels.
However, these can be best attained when the restaurant managers have self-efficacy. Hence the
hotel sectors were more adequate to help in identifying the importance of self efficacy in this
context. Analysis of the leadership experience of the interviewees was conducted by asking
them the number of years they have taken in their managerial position. According to the results,
it was revealed that there were a considerable number of the study participants (males 7 and
females 3) who had been in leadership for a long time. The demographic of sample is indicated
in table 1 below
Table 1 Number of years as a manager

Interviewees

Gender

Number of years as a manager Organization

Interviewee 1

Male

8 years

Restaurant

Interviewee 2

Male

1 year

Restaurant

Interviewee 3

Male

5 years 10 months

Restaurant

Interviewee 4

Female

8 years

Restaurant

Interviewee 5

Male

3 months

Restaurant

Interviewee 6

Male

10 years

Restaurant

Interviewee 7

Female

4 years

Restaurant

Interviewee 8

Female

13 years

Restaurant

Interviewee 9

Male

4 years

Restaurant

23
Interviewee 10

3.5

Male

7 years

Restaurant

Data collection
The method of data collection was by interviews given that this study was exploratory.

Justification for using interviews was that the study was interested in exploring the experiences
of the participants. The interviews lasted for a period of 30 minutes to 50 minutes with each
interviewee and they were given ample time to answer the questions. The setting of the interview
was in a quiet room to avoid interruptions during the process of interviews which may obstruct
flow of information and recall. During the interviews, the interviewer played a crucial role in
obtaining the relevant information needed to address the research questions by probing and
asking the interviewees to explain their answers or validate their statements.
Additionally, the qualitative interviews were conducted with each of the samples face to
face and they were asked questions relating to self efficacy and leadership behaviour. In this
regards, the responses obtained provided insight and in depth information regarding the
subjective leadership experiences of the managers and the impacts of self efficacy. Moreover,
interviews were also important to capture the various thoughts about the managers regarding
good leadership behaviours. To provide valid and accurate information, the interview questions
were developed from existing leadership and self efficacy questions by Parker (2007). These
questions helped to elicit the managersperception regarding their job abilities, leadership
orientation, confidence, skills and qualifications.
Interviews contained various questions (refer to interview schedule in the appendix B).
The interview first began with introductions before the basic guidelines of the interview were
given. The interviewer remained silent, so that the participant can respond subjectively without
interference or introduction of bias from the interviewer. During the interviews, the interviewees

24
also asked questions and requested for clarification which indicates that they responded to the
questions they understood hence provided valid information. The relevance of probing the
interviewees and asking for more clarifications was collect more accurate data and understand
the perceptions of the interviewees better.

3.6

Data analysis methods

Interviews provide qualitative data and the methods of analyzing qualitative data differ

from the analysis of qualitative data as noted by Barbour (2008). In essence, analysis of the
qualitative data was conducted using content analysis. Content analysis refers to the approach
that is used for analysis qualitative data in which the responses are clustered or coded based on
the arising themes from the qualitative data or interview transcripts (Barbour 2008). Content
analysis helped to code or cluster the responses obtained by grouping responses hence enabled
the major themes arising from the responses to be obtained and discussed as the findings of the
study. The coding scheme used comprised of the following major themes: Understanding of self
efficacy, Development of self efficacy, Self efficacy and work performance of leaders

Self

efficacy and handling failure situations; and self efficacy and leadership development. These
major themes arose from the responses obtained. Consequently, the analysis of the qualitative
data was done inductively to help interpret the units and cluster them into various themes and
categories depending on their similar attributes and characteristics.
After obtaining the themes or categories using content analysis, the investigator looked at
the similarities and the links between the established categories on self efficacy and the
leadership behaviour. In the opinion of Blumberg, Cooper and Schindler (2009), categorizing
qualitative data is important for creating a more focused argument during the discussion of
results. The resulting themes which include understanding of self efficacy; Development of self

25
efficacy

3 Self efficacy and work performance of leaders; Self efficacy and handling

failure situations; and Self efficacy and leadership development were then presented as study
findings in the form of narratives, words and phrases. Some of the responses obtained were also
quoted as part of the results.

3.7

Ethics
A sample of consent form has been presented in the appendix A section. Hence,

managers involved in the study were recruited after an informed consent was obtained.
According to Cooper and Schindler (2010), informed consent means that individuals to be
sampled in a study are first informed about the study to comprehend its aims and benefits to
them before consenting to take part. Hence, this study was based on voluntary participation
amongst the target population, but they were encouraged to take part in the study by explaining
to them the benefits of the study to add to limited literature and implications for management.
Generally, the responses remained anonymous during the interviews and were only identified as
interviewee 1 to interviewee 10. Ethical consideration was also achieved by asking permission to
conduct the study. Moreover, the study participants could withdraw at their own will and
convenient time from the study.

3.8

Reliability and validity

Corbin and Strauss (2008) define reliability, as the ability of a data collection instrument

to yield the same results when used in a similar setting (Corner 2009). On the other hand,
validity refers to how accurate a data collection instrument can be in measuring what it was
developed to measure (Dillman 2010). To ensure that the study result is valid, the investigator
ensured that the interview questions was specific regarding self efficacy and were adopted from
the past studies that have measured self efficacy or leadership behaviours (Woodward and

26
Hendry 2004; Wing et al. 2006; Villanueva and Sanchez2007). In addition, a pilot study was
conducted to determine whether the questions were valid, understandable and answerable. This
increased the validity as well as the reliability of the study (Dul and Hak 2008).

27

Chapter four: Findings, analysis and evaluation

4.1

Understanding of self efficacy

Knowledge of self efficacy amongst the interviewees was explored during the qualitative

interviews and a number of responses were received. In essence, when the interviewees were
asked what they understood by the term self efficacy, it was found that the interviewees
understood what the term self efficacy means. It was noted that they could extensively describe
self efficacy and even relate their daily management activities to self efficacy. Moreover, a
number of the interviewees could directly link their success to possession of self efficacy. This
implies that self efficacy is the conviction of people about their abilities to mobilize cognitive
resources, action and motivation required to execute a certain task successfully. Compared to
literature, these results are in line with those of Donaldson et al. (2002).Hence these indications
were important since the study was based on self efficacy and how self efficacy influences their
leadership behaviour.
For instance, the interview extracts for interviewee 10 simply indicate that,
For me (self efficacy) is the believe in myself how much what am capable of, my strengths my
weakness, yeah thats basically to sum it up
One of the interviewees further added that,
Is that your abilities in the task that you can deliver on your own and making sure everything
is effective and organized (interviewee 7)
In addition, answer by interviewee 4 concerning self efficacy was in line with those of
interviewee 10 when he said,
How confident I would be in my ability to perform my role

28
In agreement with interviewee 7, interviewee 5 echoed similar sentiments when he
indicated that self efficacy relates to self confidence and self esteem.
Your believes and strength and how you go about achieving your own goals
Similarly, interviewee 2 said
Majoring my own belief and abilities to complete my tasks at work and goals that I have set
myself
In comparison to interviewee 10, interviewee 8 similarly noted that,
The self belief to reach your goals
In contrast to interviewee 10 and interviewee 8, interviewee 6 understood that self efficacy
concerns the confidence of a person in the ability to execute and organize actions that can
produce certain achievements. For instance, interviewee 6 said,
I think self efficacy is a combination of a personal motivation training to your career that give
you the results of confidence in what you do in any kind of personal life and employment and
so
On the contrary, Interviewee 5 added that self efficacy is more about being sure a positive
outcome will occur. For instance, interviewee 5 indicated,
I understand that it is how you rate yourself in terms of being able to produce the best and do
your job sufficiently as possible and do your own belief that you can do that
In particular, they indicated that self efficacy is an individuals belief in their ability to
influence achievement and productivity of other people. Moreover, the respondents also linked
self efficacy to having confidence and being effective and organized in their work.
Consequently, it can be deduced that self efficacy was related to an individuals self esteem, their
beliefs in their strengths and even motivation. It was also interesting that the interviewees

29
regarded self efficacy as concerning the capabilities of a person and their belief that they can
execute tasks and achieve their goals. These findings conform to those of Hendricks et al. (2007).
Moreover, the interviewees further noted that self efficacy involves favorable
consequences arising from achievement, self reliance and experience. The interviewees generally
related self efficacy to persistence in an effort despite of obstacles. In addition, the study found
that the managers understood the concept of self efficacy based on the further explanations that
they provided. Compared to literature, the interviewees have understanding of self efficacy as
Woodward and Hendry (2004) noted that self efficacy refers to the belief that someone can
effectively execute certain behaviours to attain desired outcomes.

4.2.1 Development of self efficacy

The interviewees also gave an account of how they developed self efficacy and from the
various responses received and linked their self efficacy to knowledge and training.
Consequently, it was understood that the development of self efficacy relates to gaining
motivation and self esteem. Compared to literature, these findings from the interviewees are
consistent to those of Edmunds et al. (2006). Another revelation was made when others had a
different notion that the development of self efficacy involves past experience. It was also found
that the interviewees developed self efficacy based on the performance attained and hard work.
Moreover, the role of other team members in enhancing the self efficacy of the managers also
emerged.
For instance, interviewee 10 said,
As I was growing up I was really good because of my knowledge of my products
what I do, my food, wine and everything I was getting trained for the manager when I
started being a manager

30
On his part, interviewee 6 felt that,
In any kind of career is seen by other people as successful that gives you the
motivation and self efficacy to be successful in your job and your life.
Another interviewee who related the development of self efficacy to confidence in the work as
earlier said by interviewee 10 is interviewee 5. In comparison, these sentiments were also noted
by interviewee 9. Interviewee 1 said,
So depending on how the results are, you probably have to deliver more, so for me, I do pretty
well because I am well organized. So what you do need to help you on a daily basis to achieve
that goal so that is how you develop the self efficacy
Interviewee 2 also felt the same way. On the contrary, interviewee 3 said,
I think without well within my time that I have actually been a manager; you have to believe
in one team that's around you... Yourself one position that you are in or the environment the role
that you are doing... At the same time
In contrast, interviewee 4 had a different account of self efficacy development by saying,
Definitely through training so the more training you do, the more confident I am in my ability
to perform a role so I think you get more confident from that
For instance, interviewee 8 reported a different version by noting that,
Through experience to actually achieving goals that you actually set yourself to and being in
certain situations that challenge you
A different indication was provided by interviewee 7,
Ensure that my timetable is busy and I check the documents and check how many people

31

4.3 Self efficacy and work performance of leaders

To understand how self efficacy leads to enhanced work performance of leaders, a
number of questions were posed to the interviewees. In the first place, the interviewees were
asked to describe a scenario that they achieved a goal that they expected at work. This question
was important to understand whether the managers consider themselves as good at thinking of
the best ways of achieving results. All the responses received indicated that the interviewees
considered themselves as the best in achieving goals and results which implies that they believed
in their abilities. Some of the scenarios given by the interviewees to justify that they are good at
thinking of the best ways of doing things include being able to work within budgets and meet
targets despite the hard economic times and stiff competition in the market place. In addition, the
managers attained the desired outcomes and profits for the organizations and had the ability to
change the employees behaviour and provided necessary solutions. For example, interviewee 10
said,
When I was working as a restaurant manager so we changed the whole layout of the
restaurant I was the one who did the layout so that I thought was a very good achievement of
the company... Very good achievement
On the contrary, interviewee 7 said that,
Making sure that members are happy the timetable is running smoothly organization
is clear and be able to win that award
Moreover, interviewee 2 plainly said,
I have hit my budget in 4 months in a row and hopefully will be during the same in this
month of May

32
Interviewees indicated that they were able to think of the best ways of doing things better given
that how they lead impacts on employees and provided a number of effective solutions during
tough or difficult times which is important for meeting the demands of customers. These findings
are similar to those of Dvir et al. (2002). In addition, interviewee 8 said
... We have targets to meet and of the belief that any target can be hit in any club as long as you
put the right resources in. I have not missed a target in 3 or 4 years, so I said thats quite an
achievement and a reflection of that.
On the contrary, interviewee 3 said,
I managed three different teams in three different groups and each one each group each time I
moved on to a bigger and better group with high profile and demand gotten more for each
results and each group that I was in and achieve the results in the people the main thing and I
decision making my strategic posts and how we are going to achieve that result
Interviewee 3 added that being able to provide solutions as a manager enabled him to achieve a
promotion,
It took me over 3 years and half years to get this regional sales manager position so 3 and
years managing and leading a strong sales team to fantastic results and also to build my profile
to help me achieve a career preparation to reach the sales manager ..
The interviewees also believed that thinking of the best ways of doing things better was
evident in their confidence in the long experience which was of great help to their organization.
Moreover, interviewee 1 noted that,
I will take my example from here is when I came to this club as a manager the club didt have
a financial budget for about 3 to 4 years, so what I did is actually that the first thing I did is that
look at the team and then I should plan to put the team in place first and then see. So basically I

33
got all the people in place. You cannot achieve anything without the people in place so my
plan in this industry is to get my results so the first thing gets people in place and then all the
work all results will follow
In addition, the interviewees were asked to indicate a scenario that they didt achieve
anything at work and subsequently explain the end of the failure situation. This interview
question was vital to understand how self efficacy ensures leader performance qualities in the
business leaders. According to the analysis, the managers were found to have indeed
experienced a number of scenarios that they failed or didt achieves anything at work. Some of
the work failures sited included not achieving the targets at work leading to financial challenges
for the businesses. Generally, financial performance appeared to be a major concern to the
managers and this was indicated by most of the managers. In particular, the managers pointed
out that avoiding work failure is difficult. For instance, interviewee 5 provided same response as
interviewee 9 by noting that occurrence of failure at work is unavoidable, but efforts must be
made to minimize work failure. One noticeable factor was that the interviewees were all
optimistic when they met the failures in the workplace and indeed, they somehow managed to
overcome the work failures with mastery of their work and development of better strategies. For
instance, interviewee 2 also said,
Failure is a hard thing to have always do within your manager work something you dont
really want to happen within your job role and a situation that
Similar responses were given by the other interviewees and it was felt that ability to
recognize failure in the workplace was vital in identifying the ideal solutions. Consequently, the
managers appeared to be good at solving problems given that they have succeeded to lead the
organizations even in difficult times when they faced various scenarios of failure in the

34
workplace. Furthermore, the end of the failure situation was assessed to understand the actions
taken by the managers towards addressing the failure. Based on the responses received, it was
clear that the interviewees were confident in the solutions they give to solve the failure situation
and they proved that they could provide solutions that are effective to address any problem.
Interviewee 1 noted that,
I think you know we actually learn about more from it... we need to recruit the right people
get the right results so that how it ended
Furthermore interviewee 6 also revealed that he is good at solving the failure situation
they had. Other qualities emerging in relation to the ability of solving various failure scenarios at
work include being supportive during the failure situation and developing motivation to arrive at
solutions. Besides, interviewee 3 also added that being an inexperienced manager is what had
resulted in the failure situation at work, but now he is more prepared having recognized the cause
of his failure. Hence it can be seen that the leader performance also requires a manager to persist
until a solution is found. Moreover, a leader who is able to solve problems shows a very essential
leadership attribute; however, some problems are very difficult to solve. When asked to give
another scenario of failure at work, some interviewees believe that relaxed decision making was
their cause of problems, but they can now deal with the vast majority of problem with their jobs
given that they have been able to gain confidence and experience. These indications were
mainly given by interviewee 3. Similarly, it was also stated by interviewee 8 that lack of effort
was also responsible for failure at work. It was also found in this study that the managers can
deal with problems in the workplace given that some of them were able to conduct themselves
diligently and were a source of inspiration in the organization. Interviewee 5 indicated that,

35
So if it is a task say something operationally in terms of something I try to fix a situation like
an air conditioning into new or something like that I couldt do
Others noted that in terms of how to deal with problems, they had better self control and
implemented effective strategies that mitigate to mitigate the concern. Hence it can be seen that
the managers who participated in this study had a strong believe in dealing with the vast majority
of problem with their jobs. Moreover, in order to deal with problems the managers must employ
different strategies like continuously looking for solution until they get one and they must use
resources effectively and never give up. Moreover, there were managers who felt that motivation
and reward was vital for any organization to retain its employees. This implies that managers
must ensure employees are more motivated to increase their performance.

4.5

Self efficacy and handling failure situations

This study also aimed at determining whether the managers know how to handle failure

situations in the workplace when things go wrong. In particular, some of the interviewees were
confident in the plans they make hence implement them to achieve the goals set. Being certain of
carrying out the plans shows self belief and indicates risk taking. Hence it can be seen that the
managers are confidently making judgment on the plans they make before implementing them
and since the plans are made in collaboration with other employees, they are not bound to fail
according to the interviewees. Consequently, when there is a failure situation in an organization,
the managers must develop strategies to handle the situation such as formulating ideological
action for the organization, leading from the front to find the and displaying confidence in the
findings the right solution in spite employees to innovate the best strategy as noted by a number
of interviewees. In particular, it was also established in this study that during failure situations,
the first thing managers need to do is to check whether the system is working by increasing

36
administrative supervision to solve the problem and how can the failure at work be addressed. In
essence, respondent 5 said,
Usually and most of the time I get results instantly and whenever there is something that I
cant do, I always follow to make sure it does get results straight away and thats what I do
In addition, the managers must ensure their customers are happy despite the problem
experienced. Interviewee 7 said,
Well, we need to be sure people are happy with the instructors we give the members for
high standards and so we know that... so when we see how they are then we deliver them to the
members and see how they find them
Interviewee 6 added that work environment must be conducive to employees otherwise it
results in failure,
I think every time I have a somebody leaving the position I offer for or any of my staff
leaving because this is the place is not what they were expecting I think I fail
In addition, respondent 6 posited that,
I think you learn everyday listen to the people and they gonna give you the guidance to
improve if 10 people ask you the same they leave for the same reason you need to change that for
the rest not to leave
It was interesting to find that some of the interviewees normally carry out the
plans they make in order to identify the weakness in planning and making strategies.
Others added that they even involve all stakeholders to ensure no failure in the plans they
make.

37

4.6

Self efficacy and leadership development

In terms of how self efficacy enhances leader emergence, it was assessed by asking the

interviewees to indicate how they developed as a business leader. In essence, some noted that
experience has played a greater role in the development of leadership. Interviewee 2,
I have only had this managerial role for one year, however to learn a lot about that so I think
I have developed quite long
Similarly, interviewee 1 said that leadership skills are learned and one must ensure good
relationships with employees. Another revelation in this study was that leadership also involves
professionalism where the manager does not mix personal matters or emotions and work
decisions. Hence business leaders with self efficacy must also learn from others. Others also
noted that being confident in their job was necessary to achieve the results desired. Confidence in
a job also comes with experience over time and love for the job, according to interviewee 5 and
6. Interviewee 9 also reported the same. In terms of experience in leadership development,
interviewee 8 affirmed that,
... Through experience over a number of years I tried any things and sometimes they have
worked and sometimes they havent worked and each time you learn...
Based on the findings of this study, business managers engaging in self-efficacy of
leadership showed considerably greater leadership behaviour. The results of this intervention are
significant for the theory of self-efficacy. Findings recommend self-efficacy as an important
leadership behaviour element for businesses. The findings also support that self efficacy
influence leader emergence and motivation approach to improving leadership behaviour and
performance in businesses. This studys findings are compatible with results from other studies
which have investigated whether targeting other self-efficacy sources induces favorable changes

38
in other fields. In addition to implications for the development of leadership, findings propose a
promising research avenue exploring interventions based on self-efficacy to enhance outcomes
and performance in other organizations.
Self-efficacy has been regarded as an important resource to individuals. As established by
Vecchio (2003) and DiLiello and Houghton (2006), the relationship between leadership
development and self-efficacy is very strong. It was assumed by Yun, Cox and Sims (2006) that
attributes (such as person-oriented and task-oriented) relevant to self-perceived management are
important correlates of the occupational self-efficacy. A positive correlation was also established
between occupational self-efficacy and relevant attributes of self-perceived management in the
study by Donaldson and Grant-Vallone (2002). As an extension of implicit theories in the
context of leadership, the findings of this study support an extensive research across realms
revealing that self efficacy seen amongst the interviewees influences leader performance
qualities amongst the leaders.

Discussion
This studys findings suggest that growing beliefs on leadership ability projected self
efficacy hence the study can contribute to leadership development in business, succession
planning, enterprise learning and also the process of recruiting effective business leaders.
Moreover, the findings validate the prior studies emphasizing on the importance of self-efficacy
of leaders in supporting people to successfully navigate the challenges facing leadership
(Mesterova et al. 2014). High initial self-efficacy among leaders buffered the negative impacts of
stereotype threats on post-threat efficacy and self-esteem.
However, propositions that the link between confidence in doing a job, being able to help
people who seek solutions to problems related to their work and self-efficacy was more complex

39
compared to direct impacts alone were supported by the findings. To an extent, personal
differences in self efficacy moderated the leadership efficacy, impact on the reactions to arising
challenges in leadership. In particular, results established that for managers with self efficacy,
prior self-efficacy affect their self-esteem. Besides, among entity-oriented individuals with little
self-efficacy, Villanueva and Sanchez (2007) reported that the management stereotype threat led
to classic vulnerability responses such as reduced after-threat efficacy and self-esteem. As
detailed by Chen, Gully and Eden (2004), previous studies have established that an individuals
self efficacy is associated with positive outcomes like well-being and job satisfaction within an
organization.
In my own view of these findings, they can greatly contribute to business success and
since the findings validate past studies that showed self-efficacy is vital to business leader
performance. In addition, the findings reveal leadership skills and self leadership enhances self
efficacy and this in turn enhances the business leaders performance when they are motivated.
Besides, good leadership performances and self efficacy has contributed to the leader emergence,
and leader performance as noted in the model.

40

Chapter five: Conclusion and Recommendations

5.1

Conclusion - practical implications for businesses

All the study objectives have been achieved and addressed. Actually, the study found that

the business managers understood the concept of self efficacy. In addition, it was actually found
that having self efficacy enables the business managers to emerge as effective business leaders
and possess leader performance qualities. Moreover, the influence of self-efficacy upon the
performance of an individuals leadership behaviour has well been illustrated. All the responses
received indicated that the business managers considered themselves as finding solutions to
problems encounters which implies that they believed in their abilities. Based on the interview
responses gathered, the findings indicate that a comparison between a managers motivation
level, leader emergence and leader performance are influenced by their self-efficacy. Therefore
having self efficacy could serve as the basis of assessing peoples suitability for the position of
leadership in businesses. The results presented in this study show that perceptions of selfefficacy contribute to performance and leadership behaviour.
The development that can be put in place in helping managers to attain better results may
involve using strategies of self-leadership as a tool for developing leadership training initiatives
in businesses that have direct impact on self-efficacy and that influence performance outcomes
indirectly. The study findings provide practical implications to help in designing an
organizational change in businesses geared towards improving performance hence business
managers should put attention to the study.
From a business point of view, this study can help the business leaders to develop their
talents, organize themselves and be effective and motivated to perform better. In particular, Bass
and Riggio (2005) said that self-efficacy attains superior results based on personal performance

41
and ability to motivate followers to better performance levels and collective efficacy. Whereas
there are areas which still need further study, such as exploring contextual impacts on selfefficacy, the present study can contribute to how businesses can enhance effectiveness of their
leaders through self-efficacy.
The self-efficacy managers perform tasks that are more demanding. Their self-efficacy
makes them assume that task can be fulfilled successfully, and hence they continue executing
them even if success is not achieved at once. According to Dvir et al. (2002), self-efficacy is
influenced by various processes. In the context of organizational change, self-efficacy can be
enhanced by qualification before change occurs.
The development that can be put in place in helping managers hence will include training
where the leaders can learn the way tasks are executed hence improving their self-efficacy.
However, self-efficacy is influenced by leadership through various processes, namely, verbal
persuasion, likelihood for mastery occurrence and likelihood for vicarious experience. As
regards to self-efficacy, leaders are in a position to provide opportunities for vicarious
occurrences through assigning tasks. This can be attained before a change occurs, but even
during or after the change, task assignment may be significant. Task assignment that involves
great responsibility would lead to a likelihood of mastery occurrences. It however, implies that
supervisors trust employees as much as their capabilities are concerned.
From a business context, this study is important in that it can help business managers to
attain their potential and make necessary changes in their leadership. Additionally, it might be
crucial if businesses identified employees who understand self-efficacy due to the fact that such
employees are always willing to support change, and can easily adapt to it. They could therefore
act as agents for change in the businesses. Businesses which emphasize on empowerment should

42
employ training initiatives aimed at demonstrating skill improvement and implementation of
strategies for self-leadership.
Specifically, the study can contribute to building, igniting, attracting and designing talent
in that it was conducted to explore the self efficacy perception among managers and how it
affects their leadership behaviour. The study can also help businesses to attain world-class
business leaders who have self-efficacy. Hence the study can empower business leaders and
businesses to attain their goals. Organizations should take steps to enhance motivation in their
leaders since it was found that there were high levels of motivation amongst the business
managers given that the interviewees focus on doing something they ensure they achieve the
results whatsoever and employ maximum resources to attain the result.

5.2

Future studies and limitation

5.2.1 Limitations
Limitations of the study relate mainly to the small sample size that was used. In
particular, the study only involved 10 managers hence future studies should include larger
sample size. Another limitation was related to the use of interviews due to the researcher bias.
However, the researcher conducted the interviews carefully to avoid leading questions that may
alter the responses obtained. Hence future studies may involve other methods of data collection.
5.2.2 Future studies
It is well understood that exploratory approach to individuals self efficacy is new. In
further studies, it is recommended that this studys results be combined with results of prior
research, and an examination of the extent of predictability of self efficacy of leadership
behaviour done. As such, employees with greater self-efficacy may look for change within the
organization through giving proposals for change. It must also be considered that organizations

43
may opt to stay in a state of constant change. Therefore, stages of organizational change may not
be distinguished in the organizational structures. Various processes like adaptation, learning and
persistent may probably merge in organizations. It will also be important for leaders to
persistently try to enhance their leadership development through self-leadership and confidence
as aspects of self-efficacy.

44

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51

Appendix A
Consent form to take part in the study
Study title: Exploratory study of self-efficacy perception and leadership behaviour- Case of
Manager's in London
Introduction
My name is Ferney Duero. I am a graduate student at Roehampton University in the department
of Business School MBA. I am conducting a study and you are invited to participate.
Purpose
The study purpose is to explore the self efficacy perception among managers and how it affects
their leadership behaviour
Procedures
If you consent to be a participant, you be required to answer the interview questions.
Study time
The time required is 10 to 15 minutes.
Benefits
The results of this study will be important in understanding how performance of leaders is
enhances by self-efficacy and how self-efficacy can be developed in leaders.
Confidentiality
Any information you provide is completely confidential and your responses will remain
anonymous.
Rights
Taking part is voluntatry
Consent

52
If you wish to participate in this study, please sign and date below.

Participant's Signature

_______________
Date

Person Obtaining Consent

_______________
Date

53

Appendix B
Interview schedule
INTRODUCTION
My name is Ferney Duero and I am from Roehampton University, Business School MBA.
Thank you for agreeing to take part in this interview.
In this study I am talking to Explore how perception of self-efficacy influence leadership
behaviour among manager in London. The results of this study will be important in
understanding how performance of leaders is enhances by self-efficacy and how self-efficacy can
be developed in leaders. Any information you provide is completely confidential and your
responses will remain anonymous. In the write-up of this study I may select quotes from this
interview to illustrate important Points but, once again, they will remain anonymous. Also
throughout the Interview I will be using a tape recorder in order to ensure a complete and faithful
account of your interview.
I want to remind you that you still retain certain rights as a participant. This interview is about
your experiences and as such if you feel uncomfortable about answering any of the questions
then you are free to decline to comment or ask for the interview to be stopped. Importantly, there
are no right or wrong answers to the questions within the interview. I want to learn from your
experiences in managerial and therefore I hope you will be able to respond in a clear and
straightforward way. If there are any questions you do not feel comfortable answering I would
rather you declined to comment rather than answer in a manner that you think I or someone else
would want to hear. If you do not want to enter into discussion about a particular topic any
further just say no commentand we can move on. If you have questions yourself, please feel
free to ask them at any point, especially if I ask something that is not clear.

54
Thanks once again for your participation.
Before we progress on to the interview do you have any queries?
Interview questions
1. How many years have you had a managerial position for?
2. What do you understand by the term self-efficacy?
-

Can you please explain a bit more?

Any example that you can describe of how you develop self-efficacy?

3. Describe in detail a situation or a scenario that you achieved something that you were
expecting at work.
-Can you please give me more details?
- can you please describe the scenario
-How was the end of that achievement?
a. Can you please give me another example? Or do you remember another situation?
-Can you please give me more details or explain a bit more?
-Can you please describe the scenario?
-How was the end that achievement?
4. Describe a situation or scenario that you didnt achieve or fail at work.
can you please give me more details?
- Can you please describe the scenario?
-How was the end of that failure situation?
a. Can you please give me another example of a failed situation at work? Is there another
history?
can you please give me more detail?

55
- Can you please describe the scenario?
-How was the end of that failed situation?
5. How have you developed as a leader?
- Can you explain a bit more or give more detail
-Can you please give me an example that helped you to develop as a leader?

Many thanks

56

Appendix C
Interview transcripts
Interview transcript
Interviewee 1
1. How many years have you had a managerial position for?
I have been a manager for about 8 years
2. What do you understand by the term self-efficacy?
I understand that it is the ability to be efficient for your motivation, so how you basically
manage, how would you plan your day to get the most results
-

Can you please explain a bit more?

So OKthings I do to just measure my results, so I plan my day, so every hour of my day is

planned so at the end of the day I just review if I have done enough, so I think probably that self
efficacy, so if I have something I need to achieve so I plan my day
-

Any example that you can describe of how you develop self-efficacy?

I think it is probably based on the results the end results, so depending on how the results are you
probably have to deliver more, so for me I do pretty well because I am well organized
The first question you ask is what am I trying to achieve and how will I achieve it so what do
you need to help you on daily basis to achieve that goal so that is how you develop the self
efficacy
3. Describe in detail a situation or a scenario that you achieved something that you
were expecting at work.
I think I will take my example from here is when I came to this club as a manger the club didnt
have a financial budget for about 3 -4 years so what I did is actually that the first thing I did is

57
that look at the team and then I should plan to put the team in place first and then see so basically
I got all the people in these business for example is by getting the people in place you cannot
achieve anything without the people in place so my plan in this industry is to get my results so
the first thing get people in place and then all the work all results will follow
-Can you please give me more details?
So then something I will focus on is basically so how so basically we have financial target was
actually basically so lets say I got financial budget of 20,000 pounds so I say basically I got
more chances of achieving it with 50 people than 10 people so my target is to get 5 more people
in to make the individual target smaller and easier for the people that are there so that is what I
would do
- can you please describe the scenario
Another scenarios is actually, when I was studio manager so my job was to decrease the payment
of freelance constructor used to be 7,000 pounds a month so I had to take it down to 4000 pounds
a month so what I did was actually for me to teach more classes so when I teach more classes I
pay les people so that budget decreased by 3000 by me teaching more classes
-How was the end of that achievement?
I think thats what we came to achieve in this main example we wanted to reduce the budget and
we did and so that worked very well
a. Can you please give me another example? Or do you remember another situation?
Eeheh I think sometimes part of my job is actually making personal turnout better and am not
talking about you know making better lifting weight, but actually better in the business. So for
example I had personal trend and I wasnt doing well at all and he could not get clients so what I
did with hi is that we planned we looked at how he talked to people and mainly how he planned

58
his day for example so 9-11 from 9-12 from 12-5 what is he doing so basically look at all the
details to just maximize the results and achieve from then he start to realize that wasting a lot of
time because once you start writing everything down in fact write everything you do because
once you write it down you are more likely to commit so that is what we did and he start to
become very successful so he see they were wasting a lot of time so I should plan by getting
down in writing so you start to actually get better results
-Can you please give me more details or explain a bit more?
So I mean jut to give you a good example is that one of my friend job is even from being one a
personal trend is that one so basically I mean 1 month you brought in 10,000 pounds by himself
so in the whole of the company that has not been done before why because actually we had a
good try and we had to visualize what we wanted to do so what was his goal what was my goal
what was our goal and actually we planned around it so what do we need not in a monthly basis
yes but monthly breaks down to week weeks to days, days breakdown to hours and that is how
we achieve our goal
-Can you please describe the scenario?
Another scenario so I think another thing is actually another personal trend is for me I had a
personal trend I was struggling to sell personal trend into potential clients and we sat down and
again and we actually we break down to actually include the training part most personal trainer
part are good in training part so what we said to our self why are we training these people so we
what we set down so why we actually went for needs analysis we actually something that helps
to tailor what the potential client wants so basically asking the right questions to get into what
we want so needs analysis is there for you to reveal any objection that one have when it comes to
selling and thats what we did

59
-How was the end that achievement?
What we did actually was surprising is that we spoke to him on Friday and that she go for new
clients which was very good and actually we still uses it now and is actually a personal a
manager himself now in another club and is doing very very well
4. Describe a situation or scenario that you didnt achieve or fail at work.
It could be may be its time when we would lost people and a few weeks of a series of failure
because actually when you want people for the door you want to support the as much as possible
so probably as a failure so we lost a large trainers in this club last year
can you please give me more details?
More details we lost 20 personal trainers last year in this club I mean thats probably 5 years so
we lost large trainers so that was a really is something that now we will look into to actually do
better so we now have 21 trainers actually so we look at just the way we recruited people so that
from now support them a bit more
- Can you please describe the scenario?
Sometimes I have been through I mean I have had a feel like a personal friend and she came to
me one day and am I the one that train people so that is the type of thing am talking about come
to feel that am the one that train people so why personal trainer you know for me I was like I
mean these personal o a job but another example is actually we had a lot of people now and a lot
of personal trainers came in they did want to talk to people so he called me personal trainer
-How was the end of that failure situation?
I think we lost the trainers which is not actually a good thing I think to me is more of learning the
skills cause now we will look at more be selective at how we pick anybody be more careful we

60
know desperate to have this gives someone a job so thats probably that why we came out of the
situation
a. Can you please give me another exampleof a failed situation at work?Is there
anotherhistory?
That you very much I feel am in a failure when last year we did have a monthly budget how
serious the failure because I have never missed project in 40 months missed my target for the
first time last year so I felt it was a failure
can you please give me more detail?
The guy I said was promoted last year so he left the club and so actually he didnt have budget
because he wasnt there anymore but we did actually we are talking about recruitment we did
have the right people to take his place so we didnt we actually win out target because we did
have the right people in place to replace the person who had left
- Can you please describe the scenario?
It was this business depends on people if we dont have the people are there to sell the target and
I think for me she had been a quite success because we the people are there to make to actually
understand people before didnt knew what the target was and may be they did not understand
why he meant to actually the target because the individual targets became the company target so
if they dont actually meet the target the effects would be so thats why none of the people that
we have here understand and thats why we did so well
-How was the end of that failed situation?
I think for us it was a learning curve so we got little bit countable why we thought we gonna hear
every month we see as a failure I think you know actually we actually learn about more from it

61
because it been months after that we done it better because we actually OK we need to recruit the
right people get the right results so that how it ended
5. How have you developed as a leader?
I feel I learn skills I think we learn to me the main thing is that meet people and now I think one
of the things for me is the reason why because I expect everybody and am a leader so far I think
because people will not work for you it there is no respect . I want the manager to know that I
respect they will not spare an extra hour for a manager that they dont respect for me respect is a
leading example so we asking people so they tend to so people will follow so people think
sometimes it is about money how much you get paid people are happier at work they view as
simple as that the money is coming so I think for me these are the a main things that actually as a
manager I tend to provide a working environment lack of funds we go on holiday all together as
a for me thats a the thing that can help me to be where I am today
- Can you explain a bit more or give more detail
For me a leader people would tell me I dont know if am a leader I think I a workplace there is a
manager there is a leader a manager just obey the manager they follow leader this is the thing I
think for me is actually I would say respect is very important is better I ask people how was your
week actually go a long way and now a managers so I think last thing is a major to sets you
anyone can be a manager so simply for managers those are skills that you know develop
-Can you please give me an example that helped you to develop as a leader?
An example I mean I had one of my mentors your know he is very very focused for me have
been looking for people that grow up in the sense of managerial career I actually look up to thats
far I always wanted to be like better that them actually there were people who was focused on
job or all the people you know we know working in favor when we still head to we still have to

62
do the job we still have fun, we still have fun joke we still have fun talk for even we had so feel
for me as an example when we are happy we have the money so thats why for e thats why I
want to develop feel free that cause it people try to dictate too much. Lets them find their own
elements thats gonna work for them what to do it does not come from them it comes from me so
you know when I was came in a manager position I people should be happy for me it helped
me to develop so therefore it helped me understand better rather than someone just saying your
duty is to this they want to leave him very understand better
Interview transcript
Interviewee 2
1. How many years have you had a managerial position for?
I have had for 1 year now
2. What do you understand by the term self-efficacy?
Majoring my own belief and abilities to complete my tasks at work and goals that I have set
myself and checking to see if I have completed the tasks that I have set myself
-

Can you please explain a bit more?

In particular my job I am work on target so I have to a lot of administration and do a lot of

processing on to our main database and I work on how many am allowed to put through on the
system how many a I should be saving each month and from there I have make new ways to be a
save membership and also work on new techniques to make efficiency for the club as well
-

Any example that you can describe of how you develop self-efficacy?

Yes month to month I think of different ways to complete the tasks to I have given myself that
month specific to be on the top of my head probably lets just given an example of emails that
come through on a specific so daily I get about 60 emails so for me to be able to measure my

63
self-efficacy I would set a task on how many I respond to my team to help me respond to them as
well so behind so and then give service within the club
3. Describe in detail a situation or a scenario that you achieved something that you
were expecting at work.
Situation where I have achieved something would be probably each month I get to charged on
how many terminations within the club I received from here the first 4 months during this
specific managerial role I have hit my budget in 4 months in a row and hopefully will be during
the same in this month of May
-Can you please give me more details?
In terms of that kind of speak of what I have just said that they the overall outline is to hit my
target and that would be something am achieving in so far and I havent failed so far hopefully
do the same in the future
- can you please describe the scenario
So we work on account of month basis so on the 17th month I would receive requests for
members regarding the membership in the council of freeze and I would set the membership
freeze in our database my job role is to have a specific amount of cancellation of freezes for one
month obviously sometimes it cant be met due to the volume of the members within the crowd
however for the past 4 months I have hit my target and saved a lot of memberships in terms of
our savings
-How was the end of that achievement?
Good numbers that so my feedback I received from the head office and my consolidating figures
within the company of high and very good
a. Can you please give me another example? Or do you remember another situation?

64
The job I had before was a food service manager so achievements that would be from the orders
which we received which were for safety order being able to work within our team and set up a
systematic approach to cleaning the club and getting everything safe for not only just embers but
for external people to see that the club runs safely 100% and that our standard mean highly
-Can you please give me more details or explain a bit more?
I get judged on how I manage my team and I have to bring a feedback to my manager so we be
specific situation I would manage my team on how well they have done the task the I have set
them to do so then thats what gives me either my failure or success within that specific terms
-Can you please describe the scenario?
I am asking what am I team member to either increase something or set up a procedure that
needs to be done and such as getting all of the training done for that specific month and making
sure they get these terms in time for safety reasons and making sure if I dont get that turn that I
would fail within my terms
-How was the end that achievement?
Great and I have said that as always
4. Describe a situation or scenario that you didnt achieve or fail at work.
Failure is a hard thing to have always do within your manager work something you dont really
want to happen within your job role and a situation that may be I have failed is not being able to
get back to remembering time that they needed to obviously because there is one person within
my job role and my department is limited to just myself so its me that acts to a lot of email and
get back to a lot of people so there has been one situation where I havent been able to get back
to someone in time which has led to my failure
can you please give me more details?

65
I would be able to give any specific names but lets give an example of I have received an email
to stop the membership and I have unsuccessfully processed that on the system which means that
the membership is actually carried on it could be rectified and so to act quickly is deemed as
giving that service
- Can you please describe the scenario?
I have been to before I received an email to get back in time have members that tried to its not
good service thats my failure area
-How was the end of that failure situation?
I have to rectify and apologize obviously quite empathetic to how I have dealt with members and
I dont want to leave and thinking that I dont care about the situation I put them in and so really
turn that failure into a success to regain trust within that member
a. Can you please give me another example of a failed situation at work? Is there another
history?
I have worked in three other companies before not just .for another failure situation would be
mainly given about I never really been known to give bad service but if there have been a
situation where a member has been mis-communicate to myself lets just say I used to work in a
bureau de change money exchange and if member put some money havent come in the time I
said it would come then that would be deemed as giving them bad service and also misleading
the member customer and that is something that has happened previously before
can you please give me more detail?
Customer has ordered some foreign currency into theand I have told them it would be there in
three days time and hasnt shown up and I havent call the customer to let them now that it hasnt

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come because I have been away from the shop so member comes in correcting however the
money is there for them to collect which means that they have travel that way for and thats all
- Can you please describe the scenario?
Not exact description as before
-How was the end of that failed situation?
Obviously apologize and same as fast failure that you have to rectify the situation and make sure
that the customer understands what has happened also the apologies for that situation to whatever
you can do to rectify the problem
5. How have you developed as a leader?
I have only had this managerial role for one year however to learn a lot about that so I think I
have developed quite long
- Can you explain a bit more or give more detail
My knowledge base within this particular company ..is given me a lot more experience as a
leader and able to manage my team in a way that someone who didnt know processes within the
business would be out
-Can you please give me an example that helped you to develop as a leader?
My manager being proactive within my job role finding ways that I can pass in myself to
develop speaking to other managers that have been within the company for a long time on the
same job as me thats seeing how they succeeded in their job role and findings ways that I can
only succeed about doing the same mistakes that they possibly have
Interview transcript
Interviewee 3
1. How many years have you had a managerial position for?

67
About 6 years that is 5 years and 10 months
2. What do you understand by the term self-efficacy?
First time I heard the meaning I was looking at the description it was all about your believes and
strength and how you go about achieving your own goals
-

Can you please explain a bit more?

I suppose if you are in a managerial position your decisions and your confidence to make a
decision on to manage the team to get excellent results obviously comes from there
-

Any example that you can describe of how you develop self-efficacy?

I think without well within my time that I have actually been a manager you have to believe in
one team that around you ..yourself one position that you are in or the environment the role that
you are doing ..at the same time
3. Describe in detail a situation or a scenario that you achieved something that you
were expecting at work.
One role that I always wanted within my industry was to be a regional sales manager and it took
me over 3 years and half years to get this regional sales manager position so 3 and years
managing and leading a strong sales team to fantastic results and also to build my profile to help
me achieve a career preparation to reach the sales manager
-Can you please give me more details?
I spoke regards specifics I managed three different teams in three different groups and each one
each group each time I moved on to a bigger and better group with higher profile and demand
gotten more for each results and each group that I was in and achieve the results in the people the
main thing and I decision making my strategic posts and how we are going to achieve that result
- can you please describe the scenario

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I think of just describe within the industry coaching a team developing a team making changes
within the team planning strategic how we are going to achieve our results in marketing how we
do our service how we serve four package really
-How was the end of that achievement?
I set out on the role I want to be which was to be the regional sales manager position and I found
the achievement not only my hard work but also my team as well
a. Can you please give me another example? Or do you remember another situation?
I dont think I come as its a totally just over 3 years to get the goal I wanted to get and that came
from a say working with different sales team to developing them and changing them
implementing strategy and various councils to make those decisions
-Can you please give me more details or explain a bit more?
-Can you please describe the scenario?
-How was the end that achievement?
4. Describe a situation or scenario that you didnt achieve or fail at work.
When I move to away to the regional sales manager position to the general manager position the
site that I went to I was a manager 12 HODs but I was also my group had around 1000 children
membership within the area as well with me not having children and working with children
experience I found that market a bit little tough and I believe thats where my confidence lacked
and I think even my decision making was not probably best as it could be because I didnt
understand fully that market
can you please give me more details?

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The main thing which was probably my downfall my leadership that group was not
understanding the family and children market some of the decisions that which was made by
myself obviously had this effect on the results from within the club
- Can you please describe the scenario?
Yes I can when I took over the group there used to be a weekend 5 pounds guests were allowed
to come in when the actual guest fee was 20 pounds this was for existing club members so I
changed it so that it was 20 pounds across the board for guests in weekends and this had negative
effect on membership on the family market when members began to counsel their membership
for partners and were allowed to pay 5 pounds in the week and not anymore
-How was the end of that failure situation?
There was cancelation of membership families were not happy with the decisions I had made but
the time I believe the decision was the right one based on keeping it fair for all members and
thats make the effects on our membership
a. Can you please give me another example of a failed situation at work? Is there another
history?
I think within may be my earlier days first managing people I think may be some of my decision
making were not as direct my decision making might have been more relaxed and soon my
managerial approaches might not been not falsely but as confidence as what I am now I believe I
have learn some small mistake to get to the position I am in now
can you please give me more detail?
From the interviews at the early stages where I probably wanted to be more liked more respected
staff so I try softer approach and not may not have gotten the best results for the team where I

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believe now I am respect first unlike second I make sure the decisions I am making are based on
results for the team and for the business instead of individuals emotions
- Can you please describe the scenario?
When I first started as a sales manager and there was one individual MC who had been there for
a long period of time but just wasnt very good to give the results and because they were very
well like the cloth I set that individual am just allowed 4 performance to carry on when I got
through I was a little bit stronger in my abilities in my confidence in making a decision then that
would have been stopped in the
-How was the end of that failed situation?
I didnt know that my decision making should have been different my approach and my actions
should have been different towards the individual but as i said as a slightly inexperienced
manager at that moment I wanted to be more liked and make people happy instead of the true
decision so did the person continue with the business and the results did not really improve so it
just didnt change
5. How have you developed as a leader?
I think from my decision making am from taking emotion out of when it comes to making
decisions or communicating with somebody or having a difficult conversation I think that it was
I have developed a lot my skills set around what people may need has developed hugely
- Can you explain a bit more or give more detail
I think my leadership always comes down to people I have a round me my success is based on
the work that they do so I always ensure I have the right people around me to make sure I can get
to my goal my earlier stages I just took the team as it was and didnt really want to change the

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people too much but now I will make changes relatively quickly and get the right people around
me to make sure that we can be positive
-Can you please give me an example that helped you to develop as a leader?
Thats been the main thing for me I think every day we make mistakes every day we learn from
something we have not experience before am familiar to its learning from my mistakes and also
listening to watching people around me and seeing how we should go
Interview transcript
Interviewee 4
1. How many years have you had a managerial position for?
8 years
2. What do you understand by the term self-efficacy?
How confident I would be in my ability to perform my role
-

Can you please explain a bit more?

How confident I would be in my own environment and I am doing something that I have been
trained well to do and so my belief that I can actually do the job well
-

Any example that you can describe of how you develop self-efficacy?

And definitely through training so the more training you do the more confident I am in my
ability to perform a role and therefore the easier is it to do my job and so I think you get more
confident from that
3. Describe in detail a situation or a scenario that you achieved something that you
were expecting at work.

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Am I applied a to get on to a course at work for a developing into a general manager and there
were 1000 people in roles that could apply first over 100 people applied and I was one of the 12
that got selected to actually go on to because and that was really good to have
-Can you please give me more details?
So we had to go on interview day where we had to do a an assessment to the club one of the
clubs that we worked at so assessing the standards and the safety we had to do a financial
analysis of the P&L and plan an event of the club and have a formal interview for the role and
ended up here and I was successful through that
- can you please describe the scenario
So it was I think on the day it was about 20 or 30 of us around the club finding out more
information from the staff were working there to get the best
-How was the end of that achievement?
I ended up going on the course and the I ended up getting promoted at work and getting a better
position
a. Can you please give me another example? Or do you remember another situation?
The new 200 of us was getting classical I helped to open up and pick a team from scratch how to
literally pick all the staff all the help with everything was gonna go how it was to run and the
operation of the club was going to like day to day and we launched it and we had great feedback
from the members that was good a really good achievement I think
-Can you please give me more details or explain a bit more?
A lot of working for the club opened with a the builders and contractors and when everything
was gonna be delivered and when where it was gonna go and how that was gonna work and what

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we gonna do before the first members came into the club planning a classifying table and that
was really a good experience
-Can you please describe the scenario?
I think it was a great situation that we were able to open a club from scratch and get into the
recruitment day and hire staff and pick the team that you wanted to be and to have a vision of
what the club would look like without having to go and make any changes and actually do
something from scratch and that was really great
-How was the end that achievement?
Ye the club opened and the member feedback was great and we had staff had come down to see
the club we had made really like it and yes that was a good feedback
4. Describe a situation or scenario that you didnt achieve or fail at work.
When I was sales manager there was a month that I didnt hit a budget and that was a tough
month
can you please give me more details?
I was working at the nursing hills club and in august they have carnivals so the club closes and
they allow their members to go away and that is really a difficult from time to time recruit new
members to join the club I just discuss with regional managers about rolling the budget for the
month of august putting the sales into either July or September when the area was going to be
busier and worked really hard to achieve it they would not adjust their budget and we missed by
5 sales which is heart breaking for hard work
- Can you please describe the scenario?

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I think that was just a tough month even if we had a full team in and we were doing all the thting
that normally worked and made us success I think there was extenuating circumstances that
influence us not being able to achieve that budget
-How was the end of that failure situation?
We messed up and that was the end
a. Can you please give me another example of a failed situation at work? Is there another
history?
I think thats pretty much been my any time I have ever felt I was very fortunate in my career
that I have everything I have done I have managed to do well and then progress into the next role
can you please give me more detail?
- Can you please describe the scenario?
-How was the end of that failed situation?
5. How have you developed as a leader?
I think through the experience of running a team and having different people and different
personality you get to learn what works with managing those people and what doesnt work
- Can you explain a bit more or give more detail
I think doing I have regular one to one different teams and we have team meetings and you get to
learn a lot about people and how to manage them and then having how to learn to get across
what the business needs and verses what would just be nice to those people the you get good
learning curve
-Can you please give me an example that helped you to develop as a leader?

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I think watching my managers about me has been a good way to learn to see what they have
done well and be able to replicate that and to look at things that they dont do well and make sure
that and then not copying those behaviours and thats I think is what made my leadership skills
Interview transcript
Interviewee 5
1. How many years have you had a managerial position for?
3 months
2. What do you understand by the term self-efficacy?
I understand that it is how you rate yourself in terms of being able to produce the best and do
your job sufficiently as possible and do your own belief that you can do that
-

Can you please explain a bit more?

I believe in your own belief and how you can complete what was given to you in everyday jobs
-

Any example that you can describe of how you develop self-efficacy?

I think by getting depend on coming up against situation and going to do it and believing that
you can do it again in the future
3. Describe in detail a situation or a scenario that you achieved something that you
were expecting at work.
OK scenario was its a tough one I understand it was a good situation that give you the answers
that you need I will have to pass on that one I can think of one
-Can you please give me more details?
- can you please describe the scenario
-How was the end of that achievement?
a. Can you please give me another example? Or do you remember another situation?

76
-Can you please give me more details or explain a bit more?
-Can you please describe the scenario?
-How was the end that achievement?
4. Describe a situation or scenario that you didnt achieve or fail at work.
Ok sometimes you come across things that you that is not possible to achieve and whether you
cluster as a failure or not is a different thing but sometimes you come to a scenario may be
operationally that you try to alleviate a problem and sometimes that might not work as you
wanted to
can you please give me more details?
So if it is a task say something operationally in terms of something I try to fix a situation like an
air conditioning into new or something like that I couldnt do myself I could try but sometimes
you go to a person that you know can do the task
- Can you please describe the scenario?
I can go to the boiler room trying to fix something and it might be out of my knowledge that I
could do I would then go to the best possible person that can do that thing
-How was the end of that failure situation?
Usually and most of the time I get results instantly and whenever there is something that I cant
do I always follow to make sure it does get results straight away and thats what I do
a. Can you please give me another example of a failed situation at work? Is there another
history?
I cant think of another one no no its on top of my head
can you please give me more detail?
I cant think of one being on the spotlight that I actually know

77
- Can you please describe the scenario?
-How was the end of that failed situation?
5. How have you developed as a leader?
Again just like the previous question 2 I think the best thing to develop as a leader is by doing
you in a situation then you have to fix that once you do that then you can lead others
- Can you explain a bit more or give more detail
-Can you please give me an example that helped you to develop as a leader?
I believe I developed quite quickly you need to develop quickly to become a good leader
Can you explain a bit more
I think you need to develop all the necessary skills in order to make other people feel
comfortable and make the situation the best as possible it can be
Interview transcript
Interviewee 6
1. How many years have you had a managerial position for?
10 years
2. What do you understand by the term self-efficacy?
I think self efficacy is a combination of a personal motivation training to your career that give
you the results of confidence in what you do in any kind of personal life and employment and so
-

Can you please explain a bit more?

I see myself 15-20 years ago myself is because of what I do now as a management team it wasnt
the same but through the career process I did different people are working with and personal
experiences they give me the person I am today
-

Any example that you can describe of how you develop self-efficacy?

78
Is that day by day running and get successful in any king of career is seen by other people as
successful that gives you the motivation and self efficacy to be successful in your job and your
life
3. Describe in detail a situation or a scenario that you achieved something that you
were expecting at work.
In my type of job you work in my budget by the previous everyday you have budgets targets and
people tell you about how you performed and your team performance I think that is the simple in
the hospitality atmosphere to see all this combination get together that is a daily motivation to
carry on
-Can you please give me more details?
Yes sure the details is each company in UK at the moment working with a monthly budget
yearly budget and targets and all of them they will resume after either perceived all these
scenarios gives you the motivation and self confidence efficacy to achieve your goals
- can you please describe the scenario
The scenario is as a I said is daily in each performance you do you have a different goals in your
career it can be a motivation your team reach the expectation of the company
-How was the end of that achievement?
Each moment of different jobs can be from somebody going out and telling you what a fantastic
appearance and you are beating any records for the company y
Can you please give me another example? Or do you remember another situation?
Yeah I think when people are promoted in their career that promotion you get in the same
profession they give you big confidence about yourself I have been promoted in different

79
companies and each company I worked I have been promoted internally and that show the way
was doing the things was in the correct way
-Can you please give me more details or explain a bit more?
Yes sure when you serve a group of people see you work every day and they all agree to give
you the opportunity to grow in a company at least in that company what you do is correct that
makes yourself efficacy coming higher and stronger it is combined with the training about your
performance that two combination they give you a big motivation to carry on with your job
-Can you please describe the scenario?
A scenario is that when I start to work in as a restaurant rainier that is simply the person bringing
the food to the table and now a frame work each single company when they give a confidence to
me to grow enough as a professional either they didnt know it they just make my confidence to
grow every time
-How was the end that achievement?
The achievement is the finish I carry on work into get a better position to be operational manager
in a big company and that is a daily self motivation and a daily training for the company I work
in at the moment
4. Describe a situation or scenario that you didnt achieve or fail at work.
I think every time I have a somebody leaving the position I offer for or any of my staff leaving
because this is the place is not what they were expecting I think I fail
can you please give me more details?
Sometimes you have the place you work in your head and you think everybody get the same
perception how were you expected I think as a manager I expect my team but on my job my

80
main job is to try to get my team motivated and when everybody left for many reasons and when
they say to you that your job is not what they were expecting that is a failure for the manager
- Can you please describe the scenario?
It can be because person can think it is too busy the place is not what they expected it is every
single leader your need to analyze up to you create a place for them to work in comfortable
-How was the end of that failure situation?
I think you learn everyday listen to the people and they gonna give you the guidance to improve
if 10 people ask you the same they leave for the same reason you need to change that for the rest
not to leave
a. Can you please give me another example of a failed situation at work? Is there another
history?
Definitely I have been I was working really hard for a company waiting for promotion and the
promotion never come because they changed totally the system of promotions and the person
was taking the decision on who is going to be promoted at time he was a totally different person
for me working for that promotion
can you please give me more detail?
You working for big companies is a combination for between self confidence professionalism
and another people decisions is difficult if another people dont want to give you the confidence
to you can assure that for the company
- Can you please describe the scenario?
The scenario is that for each management position you have 10 candidates they try to get the
position when you compete with a colleague for that you sometimes your qualities or your self
esteem or your self confidence is not the right either you can have the biggest self confidence

81
they want that confidence can be taken wrongly for the person need to promote you and that is
what happened in the previous past
-How was the end of that failed situation?
The end was I need to look in another place and start from zero until they believe in you and you
right for the company and the company is right for you
5. How have you developed as a leader?
The combination between embracement for the company of the place that you work belief for
that company as soon as you get the belief the believe or the company with the self confidence
for yourself you believe you can be a leader and training behind they start to give you the
ambition the ambition can be for position ambition can be for money and an ambition to try to be
the leader of the team
- Can you explain a bit more or give more detail
When you have want to create a leader you can create a leader or the leader have already the
qualities to be the leader you want to create the leader you need to teach him what you expect
from them you need to do a training him what you expect from him and you his good conditions
to make that leader
-Can you please give me an example that helped you to develop as a leader?
In my case when am I not from UK or London the thing help me to develop as a leader was the
first necessity I think the ambition to dont be just a minimum based person the combination of
abasement for the company they saw me as a leader and the self motivation to get that result I
think that was a combination to help me throughout this year for the career
Interviewee 7
1. How many years have you had a managerial position for?

82
4 years
2. What do you understand by the term self-efficacy?
Is that your abilities in the task that you can deliver on how own and making sure everything is
effective and organized
-

Can you please explain a bit more?

Just means that people are happy and documents from sides and effects and safety is all correct
-

Any example that you can describe of how you develop self-efficacy?

Ensure that my timetable is busy and I check the documents and check how many people
3. Describe in detail a situation or a scenario that you achieved something that you
were expecting at work.
When I am with done my job as sales manager of the region which was a good award to have
-Can you please give me more details?
So making sure that members are happy the timetable is running smoothly organization is clear
and be able to win that award
- can you please describe the scenario
Scenario is a teaching class the members being happy and then getting feedback
-How was the end of that achievement?
Everybody happy
a. Can you please give me another example? Or do you remember another situation?
Another situation is when we give our instructors an award to show that when they have done a
great job for a great feedback when members are happy and they are delivering to our standard
-Can you please give me more details or explain a bit more?

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So we have given up we look at the members we assess them and give them feedback on what
they are working what they are doing great we then see how they communicate to members and
if they are doing it they can get possibly
-Can you please describe the scenario?
So we get a lot of feedback through members and if we get that kind of feedback then that
instructor is doing a great job then that can lead to a potential award that is the scenario
-How was the end that achievement?
At the end we got that deal and it was an achievement
4. Describe a situation or scenario that you didnt achieve or fail at work.
Well we need to be sure people are happy with the instructors we do auditions two auditions that
means we give the members for high standards and so we know that so when we see how they
are then we deliver them to the members and see how they find them and then it depends on and
possibly sometimes people may expect more
can you please give me more details?
To make sure our classes are doing well we
- Can you please describe the scenario?
The scenario is someone comes in who we see how they deliver and everyone is happy and there
has been no member
-How was the end of that failure situation?
Speaking to everyone it was like
a. Can you please give me another example of a failed situation at work? Is there another
history?
No there wasnt really anything

84
can you please give me more detail?
- Can you please describe the scenario?
-How was the end of that failed situation?
5. 5. How have you developed as a leader?
Developed as a leader by ensuring other people not to wait for long time making sure that you
are around organization major communication of fines are clear to other people and good
relationships and good change of skills
- Can you explain a bit more or give more detail
So to ensure that you are a leader you need to lead by example whatever you are treat others the
way you need to be treated whatever the expectation you deliver to them expectations and
analyze another person
-Can you please give me an example that helped you to develop as a leader?
You need to really work to satisfy all persons at time
Interview transcript
Interviewee 8
1. How many years have you had a managerial position for?
General manager since 2006 and manager position since 2001 so 8 and 13 years
2. What do you understand by the term self-efficacy?
The self belief to reach your goals
-

Can you please explain a bit more?

Having the confidence in yourself to be able to achieve what you believe you can achieve
-

Any example that you can describe of how you develop self-efficacy?

85
Through experience to actually achieving goals that you actually set yourself to and being in
certain situations that challenge you
3. Describe in detail a situation or a scenario that you achieved something that you
were expecting at work.
OK something expecting at work in what kind of in what respect OK sure so we have targets to
meet and of the belief that any target can be hit in any club as long as you put the right resources
in I have not missed a target in 3 or 4 years so I said thats quite an achievement and a reflection
of that
-Can you please give me more details?
Ok for example we have a target of members and this various place you do that you joining
members and I havent missed a target in many years a lot of clubs they miss sometimes they hit
sometimes its a continuous passing for me we just dont mess
- can you please describe the scenario
Ok so through the month we track where we are some months we can be a head some months we
can be behind but we always find away to achieve it
-How was the end of that achievement?
Before we always reach the goal
a. Can you please give me another example? Or do you remember another situation?
In regards to achievement for example when I came to this club there was a lot of work to be
done so it was very difficult job to do but we managed to achieve what we wanted to achieve and
more details of that in regards to the structural organization within the club rather than the target
the internal organization and the administration
-Can you please give me more details or explain a bit more?

86
OK for example this we are audited every 3 months the club had missed a few audits then when I
arrived here I hired specialists that were good at this particular things and gave them all the
resources they needed to achieve the goals
-Can you please describe the scenario?
OK again with the audit its very detailed there is a lot of work that goes into it with the this
particular one I hired in the experts they set the a 12 week strategy so they had a critical part that
they followed and structured it was organized there were milestones along the way so they had to
achieve this state and just became very organized with the end object of passing the audit
-How was the end that achievement?
Ye we have passed we been consistently passed
4. Describe a situation or scenario that you didnt achieve or fail at work.
OK few years ago there was a time when we did missed a financial target and more details of
that would be so particularly difficult month across the business and we did actually miss that
month
can you please give me more details?
- Can you please describe the scenario?
A scenario Ok there was a sales target its quite a hard target it was the same across the entire
business no one in our region achieved it we got the closest and it was only at the very end of the
month we realized that actually we were not going to despite all the efforts
-How was the end of that failure situation?
We didnt achieve that month the target that we wanted to get that we actually done everything
in or control to make it happen and it didnt happen that month

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a. Can you please give me another example of a failed situation at work? Is there another
history?
Yeah there was a you know again a few years ago there was an audit that we didnt pass I had
been away from the club for 2 months and the audit was gonna back and follows away a lot of
work have been done so the field wasnt passed
can you please give me more detail?
More details yeah it was again about the audit as I said earlier it was very detailed that require a
lot of work a lot of attention because that had not happened for a couple of months not
everything was in place that needed to be in place
- Can you please describe the scenario?
A scenario yes it was an audit that we had 3m as I said it was very very detail it audits every
person in the club and because the time had not been spent that then needed to be spent the
effort was not put in where it was needed to be and we didnt achieve that result
-How was the end of that failed situation?
We failed that would do
5. How have\e you developed as a leader?
OK when I targeted in the frontline position and through experience over a number of years I
tried any things and sometimes they have worked and sometimes they havent worked and each
time you learn something more and you can be better there is no perfection there is only
improvement on where you were
- Can you explain a bit more or give more detail
OK so I have worked in a number of years in the same business so I have worked in very many
different clubs each of these very different but some things you tried in one club you can learn

88
from your experience they go right if they go wrong if they go right you try again if they go
wrong you try something a little bit different
-Can you please give me an example that helped you to develop as a leader?
Yeah I have been very lucky I have had some very good managers myself and I have learnt
something different from each one of them some of them have been very detailed some of them
have been very good at managing people some of them have not been very good at managing
and what I have learnt from their mistakes as well so having really very good manager you can
look up to and learn from their mistakes thats very important having even your team around you
you can learn from your team to there is one person that I remember he used to be a fitness
manager of mine he was the most positive person everything was right everything was always
find away to do it try again and I picked up a lot of his personality trait it was very successful he
always succeeded because there was no other option he just major on so I learnt also learning
from folks ranging from people that are actually experts you can get a lot of knowledge from that
but that the best is to learn on the job gets some advice from great men let them lead the way
obviously learning from your own experience is the best way to develop and feel confidence
Interview transcript
Interviewee 9
1. How many years have you had a managerial position for?
4 years
2. What do you understand by the term self-efficacy?
The ability to achieve goals and the confidence you have in doing this so it is the confidence you
have to achieve certain things
-

Can you please explain a bit more?

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Its about having self confidence, and that confidence gives you the ability to achieve more from
your managerial position in this case
-

Any example that you can describe of how you develop self-efficacy?

I guess through experience so when you experience you get more confidence and you trust in
your decision more
3. Describe in detail a situation or a scenario that you achieved something that you were
expecting at work.
In terms of my cartel knowledge I always wanted to increase my cartel knowledge and I guese it
was quite sudden wheni actually felt that I was in a good place to create my own cartel. I was
quite surprise how I created my cartel
-Can you please give me more details?
When I started 2 and a half years ago I started as a bar manager and it was the first time I had
the bar to myself so I had to run the whole place. One other thing I had to do was to create cartels
and I had never created cartel before
- can you please describe the scenario
So It was like I said it was a new place so everything had to be created from scratch so I was one
of the people so I create the cartel for the menu just like I said it was the first time I did it
-How was the end of that achievement?
It was very successful so the cartel I created bearing in mind it was the best carterl created I
ventured in magazines there were so many that we have in the menu so since I left they still
continue using it so the legacy of my cartels
a. Can you please give me another example? Or do you remember another situation?

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I guess similarly in that note I then had to become the general manager he was the owner so he
went to open somewhere else I start to mamnage the whole place my self maintenance of the
building maintenance of the staff the whole place security . so the pecking order was quite tuff I
had the confidence to start and that is self efficacy
-Can you please give me more details or explain a bit more?
Not really not more than what I have said
-Can you please describe the scenario?
The scenario I was asked to be the general manager the general manager was leaving
-How was the end that achievement?
Very good because one of the things I did was marketing get different companies websites and
contacted them to make the company as successful as it was
4. Describe a situation or scenario that you didnt achieve or fail at work.
I guess when starting my current position the whole place was in upper mess nothing was in
order I struggled a lot to get things in order and I think if I had more experience behind me I
think I could have achieved a lot.
can you please give me more details?
So certain things like the staff was not well managed when I started the team was bad
maintanenance of the bar was bad and the place was not well managed
- Can you please describe the scenario?
No more than I have said
-How was the end of that failure situation?
So the end it am still in it currently so its still a working progress its still not perfect but going
better

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a. Can you please give me another example of a failed situation at work? Is there another
history?
I guess for instance trying to manage people is quite a difficult area because they are sick but if
they are faking it then one time I had to ask someone to come to work yet they were actually sick
so I had to be very sensitive
can you please give me more detail?
Not really there is not much more into it
- Can you please describe the scenario?
No I have
-How was the end of that failed situation?
Well just learning from it and knowling you can t always all see the eye you have to trust the
person even if you doubt
5. How have you developed as a leader?
I gave is from learning from the values you have I think when you fail that is how you learn I
guess it is a double thing having confidence may make you think you are sometimes right but it
may be the bad way
- Can you explain a bit more or give more detail
I am getting older I am having more experience being a mananger is about knowing more its
about listening from them and knowing them
-Can you please give me an example that helped you to develop as a leader?
I think working with the company I have learnt a lot about how to manage difficult situations
because at the moment there was a lot of things at the moment I think you need this to dvelop as
a leader

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Interview transcript
Interviewee 10
1. How many years have you had a managerial position for?
7 years
2. What do you understand by the term self-efficacy?
For me is the believe in myself how much what am capable of my strengths my weakness yeah
thats basically to sum it up
-

Can you please explain a bit more?

My capabilities also lie on my strengths that I really good at knowledgeable about my products
what I the industries I work for so I know am very good at food wine and all the things related to
it tried to be better up by improving my knowledge every time reading things and I feel thats
something is my knowledge about product which I work for and also my temperament and my
patience are very high level patience so thats help me to deal with situations and tricky
combination of whom I am we get lot of tricky situations so I can do well in that
b. Any example that you can describe of how you develop self-efficacy?
An example I would say is as I was growing up I was a trainer I was really good because of my
knowledge of my products what I do my food wine and everything I was an excellent trainer and
also better things so as I was getting trained for manager when I started being a manager I would
not take long a and yeah
3. Describe in detail a situation or a scenario that you achieved something that you
were expecting at work.
I was when I was working as a restaurant manager so we changed the whole layout of the
restaurant I was the one who did the layout I did the whole table sitting table planning I did total

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layout only computer on the system it self and I started training the managers and my staff so
that I thought was a very good achievement of the company for the type of the restaurant we
have at least to do about 400 in 2 hours so about a very good achievement
-Can you please give me more details?
More details it was basically was when I was working for a restaurant where I had to set out the
whole restaurant as a new start up because we were refurbishing and so I started from scratch
from table plan to training of staff and into getting the of the today that would I did from scratch
to the end and I thought it was a great achievement from us
- can you please describe the scenario
Scenario I mean it is same thing repeated again the same thing I repeated again
-How was the end of that achievement?
My management was really happy with me because I did really good job which I had done so it
was for us to what I did the table plan all those sitting plan so everything worked for us really
well and was easy way for the staff to get trained
b. Can you please give me another example? Or do you remember another situation?
For me was a very good achievement I mean I do have another achievement in this company
work as just started and I moved quite progressively to earn a restaurant manager and now am
capable of doing most of the things
-Can you please give me more details or explain a bit more?
Am I started as a waiter and then I went to a trainer I was training the staff and then I came to
realize my potential and they got me to the manager position and now the situation I am now I
am actually doing quite a lot I am making sure I take a lot of responsibility and I make sure the
restaurant is running today and am really happy with that because I make sure everything is done

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-Can you please describe the scenario?
That is the same thing that I said
-How was the end that achievement?
I feel proud of myself I feel satisfied I feel really happy I do think am capable of doing more
things I feel I have done a good job
4. Describe a situation or scenario that you didnt achieve or fail at work.
It was in the hotel arena again go back to what I thought I had done a really done a good job in
the company but I had to leave the job because the management was did not recognize my job
they didnt do anything about it I couldnt progress I was only a restaurant manager I was
thinking to go to a higher position which I didnt get which was that was a bit let down for me so
that kind of a failure for me
can you please give me more details?
I couldnt get to position I wanted in the company because basically management had plans that
every time they got their friends to better positions higher than me so I felt a bit let down so I
was thinking I have to train these guys but I will still be in the same position
- Can you please describe the scenario?
The same thing I said
-How was the end of that failure situation?
I quite the job
b. Can you please give me another example of a failed situation at work? Is there another
history?
Related to the job I cant think of anything
can you please give me more detail?

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- Can you please describe the scenario?

-How was the end of that failed situation?
5. How have you developed as a leader?
I am very organized I lead by example I dont let my staff down I try to be as much cooperative
as I can to the staff at the same time being firm not letting them make off with things rather me
deciding how things should work rather than them doing things so and also leading my example
always so staff is always happy seeing that the manager is very keen so why we should pull the
work
- Can you explain a bit more or give more detail
For example on a busy night so I dont like to be seen around my staff to that I can see that so I
could do a little bit and help them out with the situation that always helps and always gives them
confidence in their manager he just he is helping us in the teams and for him as well lets do it
-Can you please give me an example that helped you to develop as a leader?
I have seen about managers and colleagues in other companies that seem them being exception
in their work and is always to look upon someone to see that they have been in such a great
position because of their hard work and achievement and knowledge of everything so that always
inspired me to get to the position and elarn from them and be as successful as they are

96

Coding scheme
Coding scheme and major themes arising
Understanding of self
efficacy

So depending on
how the results are,
you probably have
to deliver more, so
for me, I do pretty
well because I am
well organized.
So what you do need
to help you on a
daily basis to
achieve that goal so
that is how you
develop the self
efficacy

Interviewee 1

Interviewee 2

Interviewee 3

Development of self
efficacy

Majoring my own
belief and abilities to
complete my tasks at
work and goals that I
have set myself

I think without
well within my time
that I have actually
been a manager; you
have to believe in
one team that's
around you...
Yourself one
position that you are

Self efficacy and

work performance
of leaders
I will take my
example from here
is when I came to
this club as a
manager the club
didt have a
financial budget for
about 3 to 4 years,
so what I did is
actually that the first
thing I did is that
look at the team and
then I should plan to
put the team in
place first and then
see. So basically I
got all the people
in place. You
cannot achieve
anything without
the people in place
so my plan in this
industry is to get my
results so the first
thing gets people in
place and then all
the work all results
will follow
I think you know
we actually learn
about more from
it... we need to
recruit the right
people get the right
results so that how
it ended
I have hit my
budget in 4 months
in a row and
hopefully will be
during the same in
this month of
May
Failure is a hard
thing to have always
do within your
manager work
something you
dont really want to
happen within your
job role and a
situation that
I managed three
different teams in
three different
groups and each one
each group each
time I moved on to
a bigger and better
group with high
profile and demand

Self efficacy and

handling failure
situations

Self efficacy and

leadership
development

I have only had

this managerial role
for one year,
however to learn a
lot about that so I
think I have
developed quite
long

97
in or the
environment the role
that you are doing...
At the same time

Definitely
through training so
the more training
you do, the more
confident I am in my
ability to perform a
role so I think you
get more confident
from that

Interviewee 4

Interviewee 5

Interviewee 6

gotten more for

each results and
each group that I
was in and achieve
the results in the
people the main
thing and I decision
making my strategic
posts and how we
are going to achieve
that result
It took me over 3
years and half years
to get this regional
sales manager
position so 3 and
years managing and
leading a strong
sales team to
fantastic results and
also to build my
profile to help me
achieve a career
preparation to reach
the sales manager
(interviewee 3).

Your believes and

strength and how you
go about achieving
your own goals

I understand that it is
how you rate yourself
in terms of being able
to produce the best and
do your job sufficiently
as possible and do your
own belief that you can
do that
I think self efficacy
is a combination of a
personal motivation
training to your career
that give you the results
of confidence in what
you do in any kind of
personal life and
employment and so

So if it is a task
say something
operationally in
terms of something
I try to fix a
situation like an air
conditioning into
new or something
like that I couldt
do

In any kind of
career is seen by
other people as
successful that gives
you the motivation
and self efficacy to
be successful in your
job and your life.

Usually and
most of the time I
get results
instantly and
whenever there is
something that I
cant do, I always
follow to make
sure it does get
results straight
away and thats
what I do

I think every
time I have a
somebody leaving
the position I
offer for or any of
my staff leaving
because this is the
place is not what
they were
expecting I think I
fail
I think you
learn everyday
listen to the
people and they

98

Interviewee 7

Is that your abilities

in the task that you can
deliver on your own
and making sure
everything is effective
and organized

Ensure that my
timetable is busy
and I check the
documents and
check how many
people

Making sure that

members are happy
the timetable is
running smoothly
organization is clear
and be able to win
that award

Interviewee 8

The self belief to

reach your goals

Through
experience to
actually achieving
goals that you
actually set yourself
to and being in
certain situations
that challenge you

... We have targets

to meet and of the
belief that any target
can be hit in any
club as long as you
put the right
resources in. I have
not missed a target
in 3 or 4 years, so I
said thats quite an
achievement and a
reflection of that.

For me (self
efficacy) is the believe
in myself how much
what am capable of, my
strengths my weakness,
yeah thats basically to
sum it up

As I was growing
up I was really
good because of my
knowledge of my
products what I do,
my food, wine and
everything I was
getting trained for
the manager when I
started being a
manager

When I was
working as a
restaurant manager
so we changed the
whole layout of the
restaurant I was the
one who did the
layout so that I
thought was a very
good achievement
of the company...
Very good
achievement

Interviewee 9
Interviewee 10

How confident I
would be in my ability
to perform my role

gonna give you

the guidance to
improve if 10
people ask you
the same they
leave for the same
reason you need
to change that for
the rest not to
leave
Well, we need
to be sure people
are happy with
the instructors
we give the
members for high
standards and so
we know that... so
when we see how
they are then we
deliver them to
the members and
see how they find
them
... Through
experience over a
number of years I
tried any things and
sometimes they
have worked and
sometimes they
havent worked and
each time you
learn...

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